Loving A ShinRa
by generalquistis
Summary: Setting is an A.U. Everyone thinks that Rufus has done something bad that could ruin his reputation and his whole family's reputation itself, so now he's being forced to marry the girl whom he had committed an offense with. Just read it.The summary sucks
1. Prez ShinRa's Got A Problem With His Son

Loving A ShinRa

By: General Quistis

Disclaimer: You all know the drill. I neither own Final Fantasy VII nor its characters… I don't even own Squaresoft. And by the way, any resemblance to other titles or events is purely coincidental.

Author's note: College junior year is stressful so I turn to writing to calm my nerves while listening to Aerith's theme. So here is another stupid attempt at a fic just because I want to relax. I know there's gonna be more people bashing me for this, but let me warn you now… if you are just going to badmouth me and my work, just get out of here! I know how shitty this is already; I don't need you to remind me that it is. 

The setting is like an alternate universe. Don't go telling me "hey Rufus or Aerith is supposed to be dead! Hey, Tseng's supposed to be dead! Hey, Sephiroth's supposed to be dead too! You're stupid!" right… like I didn't play the game. I know that they all "died" in the game… but hell, this is for the sake of the story so they're alive… and yeah, I know that Daddy ShinRa is supposed to be mean… but for the sake of this story, he's just sort-of mean… ¿intiéndes?

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-One: President ShinRa's Got A Problem With His Son-

            In a city called Midgar, there existed a very influential and wealthy family called ShinRa… and they were so wealthy that one of their descendants was able to buy the city itself from the mayor.

With his wealth, power and charisma to the people, he was really well-known all over the world: Mister ShinRa.

Who cares about his first name? It wasn't even mentioned in the game?! But anyway, he ran the whole city with no flaw seen by the elites like him… except for those in the lower sectors; a.k.a. the slums.

But don't get it wrong; the people from the slums did not see any fault in him except for the fact that his executives were the ones who were corrupt. Unfortunately, they are corrupt enough to have influenced the President himself.

Now, President ShinRa has two children: Cloud and Rufus. 

However, his executives were crazy enough to be aiming for power as the next president of Midgar, so they threw the eldest child away to the slums and was adopted by the Strife Family. Fortunately, they were able to find the eldest son and bring him back to ShinRa, but he retained the family name _Strife_; so obviously, he's known as Cloud Strife.

Since Cloud has always focused on his skills as a warrior, he did not want to become the next President… so Daddy ShinRa had no choice but to give the "throne" to his youngest son, Rufus, when the right time comes.

Comparing the two sons, Cloud was the more "active" one… not that he's so noisy and sociable… but because he gets to go out more often and hang out with his other "friends", while Rufus was sent to study in Junon and was labeled as serious and… ahem… ruthless.

Cloud was the first one to get a girlfriend at age 18; the girl was from Sector 6 named Aerith, younger sister of Cloud's best friend, Sephiroth… while Rufus… uhm… he was not really lucky with the girls… or he's the one making himself unlucky with the girls… because he was just so stubborn and too proud of himself.

Cloud is a year older than Rufus, but it would seem that Rufus is older than him because of his bearing, his manners and his height. Cloud still has his rugged "boyish" looks at age 21, while Rufus already looks like manly and mature at age 20. Obviously, more girls are after the youngest than the eldest because of the reason that he's the heir of ShinRa and that he's single.

It's always the money.

Daddy ShinRa had always been so proud of his sons, most especially Rufus. Cloud really does not give a damn about the attention that he gets from his father, as long as he can do whatever he wants…

However, their father became hard on Rufus when Cloud got married to Aerith. 

"Rufus, you should get hitched too just like your brother!" President ShinRa advised right after the wedding ceremony.

"I'm only 20 years old." Rufus muttered miserably.

"Rufus, I was only 16 when I had my first girlfriend," President ShinRa would say, but Rufus would just walk away. "What's the use? I'm not like you," Rufus would mutter.

Of course, every dinnertime, the family would be together in the dining room: President ShinRa, Cloud and Aerith… and Rufus.

Seeing Cloud and Aerith being sweet to one another makes President ShinRa look miserably at his youngest son who is busily eating dinner like he does not care what his father thinks.

"Sometimes, I think my Rufus is gay!" President ShinRa once mentioned to one of his most-trusted men: General Lockheart.

Where is General Heidegger, you ask? He's just… somewhere assigned to watch over Rufus. General Lockheart is the one who is always escorting President ShinRa.

"Maybe you just need to leave him alone," General Lockheart would like to say, but would just keep his thoughts to himself so that he would not get yelled at by the President.

The President even confronted his son about that problem and asked him frankly in front of his friends and his own brother: "Rufus, let me get things straight: you don't have a girlfriend, you're not looking for one and you don't give a damn about girls and the last girl that I introduced to you, you rejected last night… are you gay?"

Rufus just raised his eyebrow at his father while Cloud looked so shock. Their other friends, Reno, Sephiroth and Vincent struggled to stop themselves from laughing.

Rufus just smiled at his father. "What ever made you think that I am a homo, dad?" he asked calmly.

"I've mentioned it before," the President replied.

Rufus just looked at Sephiroth, then back at his father, "What about him? He doesn't have a girlfriend yet," he said.

"Hey, keep me out of the question, Rufus," Sephiroth snapped with a warning look on his face. 

Rufus just shrugged and laughed. "What do you think, dad?" he asked.

The answer was vague enough for President ShinRa to think that Rufus has a relationship with Sephiroth. He freaked out and did not speak to Rufus for several days after that incident.

"Rufus, I think your dad thinks that we're a couple," Sephiroth told his friend one day.

"I know." Rufus replied mindlessly with a blank look on his face.

"Aren't you gonna do anything about it? It's really ruining my reputation," Sephiroth muttered.

"As long as it's not true, I don't care." Rufus replied.

Silence.

Sephiroth made a face before turning to Cloud, Reno and Vincent, then back to Rufus again with a dashing debonair smile on his face, "Hey, wanna go barhopping with us?" he asked.

Rufus just stared at him. "Whatever," he replied before he got up and dropped his book on the sofa.

Reno made a disgusted face upon seeing the title of the book: "Marketing Principles and Practices for the Modern Marketing Manager". He tapped Rufus's shoulder and asked, "Hey, what did you do with the book I gave you on your last birthday?" he demanded.

"What book?" Rufus asked.

"Kamasutra" Reno replied with a glum look on his face.__

"It's just resting in the upper shelves of my study area." Rufus replied as he stretched.

Silence.

"Meaning he doesn't read it." Cloud told Reno.

"…and doesn't give a damn about it…" Sephiroth chimed in.

"…and finds it insignificant for his future career as President." Vincent continued.

Silence.

As they were walking to the parking area where Cloud's car is located, Reno blurted out, "Man, Rufus! I think you're the only virgin guy here among our group!"

"What's so bad about being a virgin?" Rufus asked with a serious look on his face.

"Look at your brother, he's not!" Sephiroth said.

"Of course, he's not coz he's already married to your sister," Vincent told him.

Sephiroth eyed Vincent. "I'm not talking to you." He said with a sarcastic tone.

Vincent just smiled calmly at him before turning back to Reno, "Leave Rufus alone, Reno. It's not our business to criticize him just because he prefers to remain chaste until he gets married," he reasoned out.

"Whatcha sayin' sex before marriage is immoral?" Reno asked.

"I don't know about you and Elena but…" Cloud began, but was interrupted by Rufus, "Just shut up about it, okay? If you're just gonna argue about virginity, I'm just gonna stay behind. You guys to ahead to Sector 7 or wherever and go barhopping without me… and Cloud, you didn't ask permission from your wife." He said.

"Aerith is also in this bar in Sector 7 helping out her cousin. We're gonna go there right now so that I can pick her up and go back here. Wanna come with us?" Cloud asked.

"Sector 7?" Rufus asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"I know, it's part of the Slums already, but I guarantee you, it's safe in that place," Cloud told him.

"No thanks, I think I'll just stay here." Rufus replied with an airy look on his face before flipping his hair and headed back inside the ShinRa Building.

As he was walking to the elevator, one of his father's executives, Scarlet, approached him, "Kyah… Sir Rufus, your father wishes to speak to you in his office. Kyah…" she said.

Rufus just nodded before entering the elevator, pressing the button to the 70th floor. 

Upon reaching his father's office, he was greeted by President ShinRa himself. "Good evening, son! How was your day today?" he asked.

"So-so," Rufus replied blankly as he sat down on the couch facing his father's desk. "What is it you want this time? I'm already finished checking the marketing plans for next season. They're all perfect in my point of view… Reeve's really good at those. So, have you read it and approved of it?" he continued with a casual look on his face.

"Nah. Feel so lazy. Maybe tomorrow. Anyway, where's your brother?" President ShinRa asked.

"Sector 7. He's fetching Aerith from her cousin's bar." Rufus replied.

"Oh, so he's fetching my niece from there? Who's with him?" General Lockheart asked Rufus.

Silence.

"You're Aerith's Uncle?" Rufus asked.

"Yes, he is, Rufus. Didn't I mention it to you before… or maybe you weren't listening again?" President ShinRa asked with a frown on his face.

Rufus just shrugged. "I'm sorry; it's just that unimportant information gets pushed back into my subconscious." He wanted to say out loud but just decided to keep it to himself to avoid getting yelled at. "Anyway, Sephiroth and the others went with Cloud." He just said.

"How come you didn't go with them?" President ShinRa asked.

"The Slums just isn't the place for someone like me," Rufus replied with a spoiled look on his face.

"I see." President ShinRa replied blankly before turning to General Lockheart. "Your niece's cousin… is your daughter, right?" he asked.

General Lockheart smiled proudly. "Of course, your excellency! My one and only daughter." He replied.

"How old is she?" President ShinRa asked before opening his top desk drawer and pulled out a brown envelope, placing it on top of his desk before closing the drawer again.

"Just turned 20 last May, sir." General Lockheart replied.

"Ahem," Rufus cleared his throat to get their attention.

The two turned to him curiously. 

"Am I still needed in this office? Coz I still have a lot more things to do in mine," Rufus pointed out with an impatient tone before flipping his hair.

President ShinRa thought for a while before finally speaking up, "Oh here," he said, getting the brown envelope.

Rufus got up from the couch and got the brown envelope. "What's this?" he asked.

"Receipts from the last project I've accomplished… built new roads along Sectors 6 and 7. Just want you to check those to see if it's correctly computed." President ShinRa told him.

Rufus was silent. He hated computing for expenses but he has to do the dirty job since he's the Vice President of his father and he's the most reliable person that his father could think of besides the executives. "Does this have a deadline?" he asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon," President ShinRa replied mindlessly before the phone rang. He instantly answered it. "Yes, hello?"

With that, Rufus exited with a stiff look on his face, heading for his own office on the 69th floor, not even caring whom his father was talking to.

President ShinRa's face lightened up. "Oh, hi, Honey. Yes, I'm fine. What about you? Is everything okay there in Nibelheim?" he asked.

"Yes, but I would like to see my Rufus and my Cloud so I'm thinking of coming over there to check on them." His wife, the First Lady replied with a pleased tone.

President ShinRa motioned for General Lockheart to leave for a while.

General Lockheart exited the office and just decided to head for the Executives' Lounge on the 68th floor.

Upon reaching the lounge, his facial expression stiffened upon seeing General Heidegger, Hojo, Scarlet, Reeve and Palmer inside.

"Gyahahahahaha! Look who's here!" Heidegger said airily.

"Good evening, fellows," General Lockheart greeted formally before taking his seat beside Reeve. 

"The butt-kisser's here. What shall we do with him?" Palmer asked.

General Lockheart examined the bottles of gin, beer and whiskey on the coffee table and realized that they must be drunk already. "What's the occasion?" he just asked casually.

"The occasion?" Palmer asked.

Scarlet got up. "Kyah… I'll just go to the bathroom." She got out of the room.

Heidegger laughed. "Gyahahahahahahaha! He asked what the occasion is?! Gyahahahahahaha!" he said sarcastically.

"I don't see anything funny about my question, Heidegger," General Lockheart said calmly but his eyes reflected annoyance.

"The occasion is to celebrate a butt-kisser's death." Hojo replied with a mean look on his face.

Silence.

"Really now?" General Lockheart asked, thinking that Hojo was not making sense anymore. "Oh well, this scientist is crazy anyway," he thought silently before he realized that Hojo was already holding a gun.

"Hey, put that down!" Reeve warned Hojo, attempting to grab it.

BANG!

Reeve, Heidegger and Palmer watched as Lockheart fell to the floor, convulsing a little as blood came out from his head. The three had looks of disbelief on their faces.

"What did you do that for?!" Palmer demanded from Hojo, collaring him.

Hojo pushed Palmer away. "To get rid of a butt-kisser is to get rid of salary deductions! If not for that snitch hell of a guy, we would be rich already! He keeps on revealing to the President about our deeds!" he replied angrily.

"Shit, did you realize what you just did?!" Reeve asked in disbelief as he got up with a frantic look on his face.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't you dare tell on me, you Urban Development dork!" Hojo warned with a demented look on his face.

"You're crazy!" Reeve said.

"I know!" Hojo laughed at him before turning to Heidegger and Palmer. "Now, fellow executives… you're not gonna tell on me, are you? If not for me, we'd still be suffering!" he snapped.

Heidegger and Palmer just nodded. "Gyah… whatever," the former nodded before exiting, pretending that nothing happened… because Lockheart simply sickened him.

Palmer just wanted to forget that such a thing happened.

"Hojo, you'll get blamed for this," Reeve told the scientist.

"That's why we know how to keep quiet, right?" Hojo hinted with an evil glint on his eye.

Reeve just shook his head in disgust. "I… I'll just be… somewhere," he said before leaving the room, not knowing what to do.

Hojo hid his gun inside his pocket before walking out of the room and made a call to the Security Office in the lobby. "Hello, this is Professor Hojo… there's been a murder here at the Executive's Lounge. Some intruder entered and killed Lockheart," he said with a nasty smile on his face.


	2. Wedding Plans For Rufus ShinRa

Loving A ShinRa

By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: I don't know anything but the story plot.

Author's Notes: I don't really know if I'm gonna categorize this under _humor_ too, because I can't help but add some sort-of funny things here… but anyway, to be safe… I'll just shut up. Gyah… -.-'

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-Two: Wedding Plans For Rufus ShinRa-

            "I appreciate that you wouldn't be leaving until my dad comes home, but isn't it embarrassing for Cloud? I mean, he went here to fetch you but…"

"Oh shut up, Tifa. I can't leave you alone in this place. What if you get into trouble or something?" Aerith asked as she helped Tifa in mixing the drinks.

Tifa rolled her eyes before looking at Cloud, Sephiroth, Vincent and Reno. "I won't get into trouble, I promise. Besides, I can defend myself from maniacs!" she said before turning back to Aerith. "Hey, I thought they're five in their group? How come they're only four whenever I see them?" she asked.

"Oh you know… my brother-in-law doesn't come out that often especially in places like this." Aerith replied.

"Rufus?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah. You've seen him before right? During my wedding?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah, he was the best man. And you were my maid of honor!" Aerith replied.

"I don't see the connection but I think he's too stuck-up. Anyway, I did not even talk to him during the whole ceremony and the reception." Tifa replied before they were interrupted when Cloud got up from his seat. "Hey, Aerith. I'm leaving now. You coming?" he asked.

Tifa nudged Aerith. "Go ahead, I'll be fine here." She said.

Aerith looked at Tifa for a while, thinking of what to do. She did not really want to leave her cousin alone in the bar, but she changed her mind when Sephiroth approached them. "Just go home with Cloud now, sis. I'll help our dear cousin Tifa here," he told her reassuringly.

Aerith smiled. "Thanks, big bro," she said before giving Tifa a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, cuz!" she said before she finally left.

"Of all the jobs you'll take, why bartending?" Sephiroth asked Tifa with a ridiculous look on his face.

"What do you want me to do? Apply for Soldier just like what you did?" she asked.

"Not exactly… but we could use some girls in our squad." He replied with a snicker.

Silence.

"I'm not saying that you're a tomboy, Teef." Sephiroth cleared out.

"I did not ask anything," she muttered miserably.

Sure, she acted tough sometimes, but it doesn't mean that she's a tomboy. She just knows how to kick people's asses around because she didn't want them putting her down. 

"So, Teef, how's it goin'?" Reno greeted with a silly smile on his face.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Reno? You already have a girlfriend and you're still hitting on my cousin?" Sephiroth asked with a mocking look on his face.

Tifa just smirked at Reno before moving away from him, going to Cid Highwind who was seated on the other side of the room. "Here's your beer," she said, placing a large mug in front of him.

"Thanks, Teef." Cid said. "Are those @#$%^%$ guys makin' fun of ya again?" he continued, referring to Sephiroth, Reno and Vincent.

"Oh, not Vincent… just my cousin and Reno, but don't worry, I can take care of myself," She replied with a wink before walking back to them.

Sephiroth and Reno observed the way Tifa moved: graceful but it still had some hints of toughness… probably because of her gloves and her shoes.

Suddenly, Sephiroth had an idea. "Hey, Teef…" he began.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"What's your ideal guy?" he asked.

Silence.

"Why do you ask?" she asked with a ridiculous look on her face.

"Just answer the question," Sephiroth replied.

Tifa thought for a while. "I don't really know… but as long as he loves me and I love him, I think it's okay." She replied before turning away.

"Hey, Sephiroth, what's on your mind?" Vincent whispered with an inquiring look on his face.

"Nothing, really," Sephiroth replied casually before the phone began to ring. He answered it. "Yeah? This is the 7th Heaven."

"Sephiroth? Is Tifa there?" Yuffie asked from the other line.

"Yeah, she's here. Why?" he asked.

"Uhm… we just received a phone call from ShinRa and I think something bad happened to her dad." She replied with a worried tone.

Sephiroth was silent for a while before turning to Tifa. "It's your roommate," he said.

Tifa frowned slightly before taking the call, "Yeah?" she asked.

"Tifa, General Heidegger called up. He's asking you to come to ShinRa right now," Yuffie said.

"What? But why?" Tifa asked.

"It's…it's about your dad…" Yuffie told her.

Tifa hesitated for a while before putting down the phone. "Sephiroth, I'm going to ShinRa. She said that Heidegger called up… something about my dad," she said with a worried look on her face.

"What? You're gonna leave me here with these drunken people?" he asked with a frantic look on his face.

"You'll be fine!" she said with a wink before she got out of the bar.

Sephiroth was dumbfounded in his place before turning to Vincent and Reno. "I'm gonna be needing some help here," he said.

Silence.

"I said, I'm gonna be needing some help here!" Sephiroth repeated sarcastically.

Vincent got up, deciding to help him.

            Five days later, they buried Lockheart in the cemetery in Nibelheim. Times were too tough for Tifa because just out of the blue, their money just disappeared from her father's bank accounts like someone found out the number and took everything from it. She even had to sell the bar so that she could pay her rent at Barret's and pay for the funeral's expenses. Everyone was convinced that her father was really murdered accidentally by some anonymous guy who must have escaped from ShinRa, but Tifa had doubts about it. She believed that her father was murdered on purpose and then took all of their money.

During the funeral, President ShinRa was there, and after saying his condolences to Tifa, he left the place. The ShinRa Executives, except for Hojo, were also there and they couldn't look at Tifa straight in the eye.

Sephiroth, Aerith and Cloud were left there with Tifa in the cemetery as the crowd dispersed.

"Are you okay, Tifa?" Aerith asked, holding her cousin's hand and squeezing it gently.

Tifa just kept quiet, her crimson eyes blank with tears waiting to fall.

"We can give you some money if you want to," Cloud told her with a concerned look on his face.

"No, thank you. I can manage." Tifa said sternly.

"Where are you going to sleep tonight?" Sephiroth asked.

Silence.

They were interrupted when a beautiful brunette wearing an elegant black dress approached them. She had blue eyes and a kind smile on her face. 

Cloud and Aerith turned to her and smiled. "Mom," Cloud said, approaching her.

Aerith followed after her husband and gave her mother-in-law a kiss on the cheek.

"My, oh my, how's my beautiful daughter-in-law, huh?" Mrs. ShinRa asked with a kind smile on her face as she patted Aerith's shoulder.

"I'm alright, ma," Aerith replied with a sweet smile on her face.

"I'm sorry if I only arrived right now and everything's over. So, where's his daughter?" Mrs. ShinRa asked.

Cloud gestured over to Tifa.

Mrs. ShinRa looked at Tifa and approached her with a sad smile. "You must be his daughter, Tifa," she said.

Tifa nodded.

Mrs. ShinRa examined the suppressed sad look on Tifa's face and she felt her heart sink. "Aww, dearie," Tifa was surprised when the First Lady suddenly embraced her as if trying to comfort her.

"I know how hard it is to lose a beloved parent… but it's okay, you can cry. It's better if you will cry because it will release your tension, rather than hold everything inside and drive yourself crazy," Mrs. ShinRa advised.

Tifa just nodded as Mrs. ShinRa let go of her.

Mrs. ShinRa held Tifa's hand and squeezed it gently. "My dear, your father was the best General my husband's ever had. He was very loyal and did his job well also in assisting Heidegger with my Rufus." She leaned closer to Tifa and whispered, "Listen, I know that times are tough right now for you… if you don't mind, you can stay with me for a while,"

Tifa's eyes widened but she just smiled weakly. "No, thank you, Mrs. ShinRa… I think I'll be alright. I'll just find myself a new job so that I can earn my own living," she said with a trembling voice. But the truth is, she had no idea how to start her new life.

"But I insist, Miss Lockheart, this is just our way of repaying you because of your father's excellent work!" Mrs. ShinRa said.

"I appreciate your kindness, Mrs. ShinRa, but really, it isn't necessary anymore." Tifa replied with a sad smile on her face before she moved away from the First Lady and just walked away.

They all watched as Tifa walked away from them.

Mrs. ShinRa sighed heavily. "I'm worried about her," she said.

"Did dad say so that she can stay with us?" Cloud asked.

"I don't really know how to explain this to all of you… but your father and I have discussed this two nights ago and it's been settled," she replied before turning to Sephiroth. "You're one of the best Soldiers we have, right?" she asked.

"Actually, I'm the only best soldier," Sephiroth said with a proud look on his face.

Cloud rolled his eyes; Aerith giggled.

Mrs. ShinRa giggled. "Oh, you're such a funny boy. And you're one my sons' best friends, if I'm not mistaken?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Sephiroth replied.

Mrs. ShinRa nodded. "Tifa is your cousin," she began. "… and I want you to bring her to the ShinRa Mansion tonight for dinner." She said.

"What for, mother?" Cloud asked.

"I'll announce it later on." She replied.

            Rufus was rummaging through his father's documents inside the ShinRa Mansion while talking to him on the mobile phone. "Where is it in these files?" Rufus demanded impatiently.

"It's just there, son. It's in a blue envelope," President ShinRa replied.

Rufus froze. "Dad, there are ten blue envelopes in this pile. Can I just gather these ten and ship it over there in Junon?" he asked.

"No, look into those and see if you can find that important report about the recession two years ago," with that, President ShinRa hung up.

Rufus sneered before putting his mobile phone inside his pocket. He began to open the first five envelopes but none of those contained the document.

On to the sixth, he miserably opened it and pulled out three pieces of paper. He easily recognized his father's own signature at the bottom of the first page and then wondered who the other person was who signed next to his father. "What's this?" he thought silently as he carefully read it, realizing that it was like a contract. His eyes widened in awe. 

            Mrs. ShinRa heard his son's scream from her husband's study in the ShinRa Mansion. "Oh dear," she got up from her dresser and rushed to the next room. "Rufus, what are you doing?" she demanded, but she stopped when she saw her son's eyes flaring in anger.

"Rufus, are you okay?" she asked.

Rufus clenched his fists before showing the papers to his mother. "What the bloody hell are these, mother?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Mrs. ShinRa's eyes widened. "Oh dear… where did you find that?" she asked, pretending not to know anything about it.

"First, dad turns me into his heir… the next thing I know, I'm… I'm entitled to… to…" Rufus couldn't go on. He felt like an object.

"Rufus, you don't understand, this is for your future! For ShinRa's future!" Mrs. ShinRa said.

"Mom, I can't marry someone whom I don't even know!" Rufus stated with an angry look on his face.

"But this is no ordinary woman you're marrying! She's…" 

Rufus did not let her finish, he threw the contract away and rushed out of the house with a frustrated and confused look on his face.

He did not read the whole contract, just the first page. He saw two signatures: his father's and another that seemed to be so unfamiliar to him. They signed a marriage contract for Rufus and whoever the girl is. 

Rufus kept on running until he reached the well. He wondered where the other people are, and realized that it was already beginning to get dark. "They're probably back in their own homes now preparing dinner," he thought silently. He wished he was back in Midgar. If he wasn't forced by Cloud to come to Nibelheim with him and Aerith, he wouldn't have seen that contract… but then again, if he did not found out about it, it could get worse… and it would be too late by then.

And she had no intention at that moment already to know who the girl is.

That's when he finally came into the realization how miserable his life is. He wished he had Cloud's life… or Sephiroth's life… or Vincent's life… or even Reno's life. His brother is happily married to a wonderful woman; his three other friends have a stable life with little ups and downs, compared to himself with much more downs than ups. He did not really like the idea of getting stuck inside a study room and an office just reading and studying and calculating. He did not really like feeling of making speeches in front of different strange high-ranking officials from different cities, towns and countries. He did not really enjoy the fact that he was heir of ShinRa because it made him lonely and anti-social… comparing himself to his own brother, he realized that Cloud had more friends than he does.

Rufus clenched his fists and pounded on the wooden post behind him.

"Oh," came a startled cry from behind him.

Rufus was surprised. He turned around and realized that there was someone standing behind the other side of the post where he was leaning. "What are you doing there?" he demanded.

Tifa gazed into Rufus's angry blue eyes. "N…nothing… I was just standing here…" she replied, rather afraid of him because she was able to recognize him easily. 

He just looked away from her. "Why don't you just go home?" he asked her.

Silence.

Tifa felt her heart sink when she heard the word _home_. She just looked away. 

Rufus heard her sniff. It made him look at her again but he could not see her eyes because of the dimness of the whole place. "What's the matter, don't you have a home?" he asked.

Tifa was silent for a while. "I'm sorry, but my father just died and I have no other place to go because someone stole our money... Please excuse me, Sir Rufus," she said with a voice that seemed to falter before she decided to just walk away and just hang out by the forest. 

Rufus watched as she began to walk away, his own confused mind still managing to turn its own gears. He instantly remembered her from Cloud and Aerith's wedding… she was the one who caught the bride's bouquet and Rude was the one who caught the garter. Rufus did not know how he felt back then but he felt so bad when he was not the one who caught the garter… especially when he heard from Sephiroth, "It means that they're the next ones who'll get hitched," Rufus did not speak for the rest of the day. Rufus knew that the bald Turk liked Tifa because he heard Reno and Vincent gossiping about it. Fellow Turks gossiping about another Turk. It's enough to make Rufus's world go round.

Then he had an idea. "Hmf… if I marry another girl, they'd leave me alone for good… and they wouldn't force me to marry that nobody…" he thought silently with an evil glint in his eye. With that, he ran after Tifa. "Hey," he called out.

Tifa stopped running and she instantly turned red when she realized that Rufus was already holding her hand. "I didn't catch your name," he told her.

She smiled sadly. "T…Tifa," she said softly.

"T…Tifa," he repeated.

She chuckled lightly. "No. Just Tifa. Tifa Lockheart," she corrected.

Rufus studied her for a while, looking into her crimson eyes, and then noticing her black dress… and scanning her body in the process. He slightly raised his eyebrows when he realized that he had been staring at her chest, and he just blushed before looking at her face again, noticing that she was also blushing as she looked at him strangely. "You must be Lockheart's daughter," he said stiffly.

She nodded. "Yes, I am." She replied softly.

"My condolences, Tifa." He said.

She just nodded her head. She didn't know if he sounded sincere or not… he just spoke like it was a casual occasion. It somewhat made her feel bad about Rufus, thinking that he's just another of those politicians or popular people who pretend to be concerned with your concerns, sympathizing with you, while the truth is, they're just putting up an act to look good so that you'll still vote for them or support them whatever happens. Duh. With that, she just walked away.

Rufus raised an eyebrow and somehow, he knew what she had thought of. "Damn myself! I should've sounded more sincere… but I am sincere! I'm just stiff that's why I'm having a hard time expressing myself in the right way that I should!" he thought silently before he caught up with her and grabbed her hand, causing her to stop and turn surprisingly at him. "Hey, what's the rush?" he asked.

"I have to… to go… home." She lied.

"Well, I'll just walk you home. Where's your house?" he asked.

"No need to." She replied with a hard tone.

"I insist. After all, you're my sister-in-law's cousin… and you're one of my friends' cousin too… You know, Aerith and Sephiroth?" he asked with a weak smile on his face.

"Yes, I know them. And don't worry, I know you. You're the President's son and my father once served him. But that doesn't concern me anymore." She said blankly.

"Huh? How come?" he asked with a frown on his face, noticing that her eyes were already teary.

She just shook her head. "Thank you for your kindness, but I really have to go. I'm tired and I need to rest." She said.

But he wouldn't let her go.

His grip just tightened around her wrist. "Let me at least walk you home. Let's say that it's my way of repaying your dad's kindness and loyalty to my dad." He told her.

"No, thank you." She replied, her voice faltering.

"C'mon. I insist. I know how good your father is and since I wasn't in the funeral this morning, the least I could do is to walk his daughter home and make sure that she arrives there safely," he told her with a kind smile on his face.

Tifa was thinking ridiculously, "How could such a stiff man smile like that? Brrrr… looks creepy… yet charming. He should smile often. Oh what the hell…" she mentally slapped herself. 

"So, where do you live?" he asked her.

She was silent for a while.

He stared down at her strangely. "You okay?" he asked.

She sniffed, not able to control her feelings anymore. Her feelings consisted of anger, vengeance, disappointment, depression and severe sadness and hopelessness already… she couldn't take it anymore. She had a lot of things in mind like how to track down her father's killer and where the hell did all their money go… where she's gonna stay and live, she doesn't know. She can't just go with Sephiroth to the barracks of the First Class Soldiers in Midgar and stay there for a few days. Although she knows how over-protective her cousin could become, he couldn't always be there to protect her from low-ranking Soldiers who might have a nasty tendency to lust for her. As for Cloud and Aerith, she couldn't stay with them… it would be too embarrassing. It'd be like they let in a peasant girl in their home because they feel pity for her. 

Tifa began to cry.

Rufus felt his heart sink. "Hey, what the…" he suddenly didn't know what to say. No one's cried in front of him before… at least not a girl… 

She wiped her tears away and just smiled sadly at him. "I have no home," she told him honestly.

He fell silent.

She twisted away from his grasp and just walked away, but then upon remembering his old plan, he ran after her again. "Tifa, wait!" he called out.

She did not stop. She began to run. "Leave me alone!" she screamed angrily.

"Tifa!" he called after her.

Fine, he's spoiled. He wants everything going his way so…

So, he just kept on running after her until they reached a dark alley near the ShinRa Mansion itself. Since she tripped on a pile of dried leaves, Rufus was able to catch up with her. Before she could stand up, he dove onto her, settling on top of her and pinning her down to the ground while gripping her wrists tightly. "Listen carefully! I have something to say!" he said sternly with a threatening look on his face.

"AAARGH! Let me go!" she screamed.

Okay, so the screaming alarmed everyone from inside the Mansion and at that time, dinner was already starting and they're wondering where Rufus is. 

The First Lady instantly got up from her seat. "What the hell is going on?!" she asked with a worried look on her face.

"Someone's in trouble!" Aerith said, standing up in alarm and rushed to the door with Cloud, Sephiroth, Vincent and Reno.

"Man, sounds like someone's getting raped or somethin'! Heheh…" Reno said.

"Oh dear! I hope not…" Aerith trailed off and she gasped as her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the _wonderful_ scene (what a sarcasm).

Cloud's mouth dropped open in surprise. Vincent's eyes widened. Reno just cheered and hooted, "Woohoo! Rufus, you horny dog, you!"

Sephiroth felt enraged. "What the @#$% are you doing to my cousin?!?!?" he demanded angrily.

"RUFUS?!" The First Lady screeched in shock and disgust.

Rufus's eyes widened in shock as he got up from Tifa. He even reached out a hand to help her up but she slapped his hand away in disgust.

"Ow, what'd you do that for?" he demanded angrily from her.

"You bastard you…" Tifa began, but Sephiroth drew his Masamune and pointed it at Rufus. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Rufus?" he demanded with a nasty smile on his face.

"Rufus, how could you do this?! You just ruined your own reputation and…" the First Lady began to blab as she shed a few tears.

Rufus finally got it. He pushed the Masamune's blade away from his face as he stepped forward. "Wait, wait, wait! Let me explain! It's not what you think it is! I was just…"

"Rufus, I know that you're sexually frustrated coz you're still a virgin but… why rape a girl?!" Cloud asked in disbelief.

"WHAT?!" Rufus and Tifa both said in unison. The two felt the world spinning around them.

"Oh no… more trouble for me… I think I'm gonna go crazy…" Tifa thought as she felt dizzy. She took a few steps backward before she finally fainted.

"Tifa," Rufus rushed to her, but before he could touch her, Sephiroth pushed him away, "Don't you dare touch her, ShinRa!" Sephiroth warned.

"You don't understand, Sephiroth, I did not…" Rufus began.

"Blah blah blah! We saw it with our own two eyes and you still insist on denying it?! Goddamn it, Rufus! Aren't you ashamed of yourself?! I can't believe that I'm friends with a rapist!" Sephiroth reasoned out with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Let me explain first! I did not rape your @#$%^%$ cousin, dammit!" Rufus stomped his feet in total impatience.

"Oh yeah?!" Sephiroth's grip tightened around his Masamune.

"Yeah!" Rufus brought out his shotgun.

"Ack! Stop that!" Aerith rushed to Sephiroth and pulled him away from Rufus.

The First Lady was still sobbing as she approached the unconscious Tifa and knelt down beside her, stroking her hair. "Poor darling… now you're gonna have to marry her!" she told Rufus.

"WHAT?!" Rufus asked in disbelief.

There was a clasp of lightning followed by the sound of roaring thunder.

Sephiroth smiled maliciously at Rufus. "Ya heard your mother, my dear friend… you're gonna have to marry my cousin so that she won't be disgraced by what you did to her!" he sneered.

"I told you, I didn't do anything to her!" Rufus protested.

"Yes, you did," Reno chimed in while snickering maliciously.

"Rufus, you have to do this for her sake and for our family's sake! You have to marry her right away so that she wouldn't be disgraced!" Cloud said with a hard look on his face.

"I told you I didn't do anything!" Rufus reasoned out.

"Wait 'til your father gets home, young man!" Mrs. ShinRa snapped at him.

"Damn! Why must this happen to me!" Rufus thought silently, cursing the heavens. 

"You raped her. If she gets pregnant, it'd be a disgrace," Cloud pointed out at him.

"I did not rape Tifa!" Rufus screeched.

"SHH! Shut up! Do you want anyone else to hear? No one else from outside ShinRa should know about this!" Sephiroth said, covering Rufus's mouth with his gloved hand.

Rufus pushed Sephiroth away and then turned to his mother, "Mom, what about the girl who's supposed to be engaged to me?" he asked.

Silence.

The First Lady smiled gently at him. "Never mind her, Rufus. Just marry this poor darling… oh dear, look at her… I pity her for what you've done…" she began to cry again as she took Tifa in her arms and embraced her gently.

Rufus just rolled his eyes and walked away but Sephiroth and Cloud followed him, nagging him completely.

Silence.

"Let's just bring Tifa inside." Aerith suggested.

Reno helped in carrying Tifa but he couldn't stop from laughing.

"What's so funny, Reno?" Aerith asked with a ridiculous look on her face.

"Heheh… she must've fainted coz she couldn't take the pain of a _first time_ experience… if you know what I mean… Heheheheheh." He explained.

Mrs. ShinRa slapped his face with a fan. "Ugh! It's boys like you who degrade women that should be put to death!" she snapped.

"Eheheh… sorry, ma'am." He apologized.

"Salary deduction for you, Reno." She told him with a stern tone.

Reno just made a face. "It's hard to be a Turk these days…" he thought silently.

Aerith just giggled.

----------------------------------------------- 

To be continued… gyah… -.-'


	3. Coz She Got Raped By The President's Son

Loving A ShinRa

By: General Quistis

Disclaimer: I don't know anything but the story plot.

Author's Notes: You hate me….. I just know it… you all do…..

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

-Three: Coz She Got Raped By The President's Son-

            President ShinRa could feel the world spinning around him and all he wanted to do was to drop dead upon hearing the news from his wife the moment she arrived in Midgar with their two sons, their two sons' friends, their daughter-in-law… and their future daughter-in-law.

But he kept his composure as he got up with wobbly feet from his office chair. "I… I need to speak to Rufus, please," he said weakly, his heart beating so fast and then having a hard time breathing suddenly… he thought he would have a heart attack.

"Honey, why don't you sit down for a while? I think you need some water," the First Lady turned to Elena. "Dearie, could you get us some water? And please, could you also call for Rufus?" she asked kindly.

"Yes, ma'am," Elena replied before rushing out of the office to get some water from the dispenser in the secretary's area.

Mrs. ShinRa helped her husband to sit down on the couch and began fanning her with her perfumed lacy fan. He crinkled his nose upon sniffing the strong scent. "Ugh… stop that! The more I'll faint if you continue fanning me!" he told her, turning his head away from her.

She raised an eyebrow. "You're such an ingrate!" she snapped.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He muttered miserably before turning back to her with a confused look on his face. "Why the hell would our son rape a girl?! And of all the girls, why Lockheart's daughter?!" he demanded.

"I don't know! We probably exerted too much pressure on him before and you even suspected that he's gay so maybe he's trying to prove that he's a man so he… uhm… did it… even though I think that there are other ways to prove that a man's a man… but… oh, dearie! I don't know! Or maybe it's the time he was rummaging through your envelopes in your office in the Mansion and then he saw the contract that you signed with your general…" she trailed off when President ShinRa's mouth dropped open. 

"He saw the contract?! I thought we had an agreement that we wouldn't show it to him until he's 21?!" he demanded.

"It wasn't my fault! You shouldn't have separated that contract from all the other documents inside those blue folders!" she snapped.

He was about to say something to her but they were interrupted when Elena entered again with a glass of water and handed it to President ShinRa.

"Where's Rufus?" the First Lady asked.

"He's on his way, madame," Elena replied with a sweet smile on her face.

Silence.

President ShinRa took a few sips of water before putting the glass on top of his office desk. "I think this problem's really going to kill me… we can't afford to risk our reputation just because our son did something against the law!" he snapped angrily.

"I know, honey… but… but what can we do?" Mrs. ShinRa asked with a worried look on her face.

"We mustn't let the media know. Besides, let's look at the bright side! The truth is, I just signed the contract some days ago before Lockheart died. He was worried that someone's after his life and was so concerned about what would happen to her one and only daughter if ever someone tries to kill him, so to reassure him of his daughter's safety, I decided to get her betrothed to our Rufus. That way, Lockheart can be sure that his daughter is in safe hands… which she is right now! Hah! So look at the bright side, dear… the two are engaged so they can get married already ASAP." He told her.

Elena was trying to keep a straight face while listening to the two, but she couldn't stop herself from giggling. 

President ShinRa and the First Lady turned to her with curious looks on their faces. "Is there anything wrong, Elena?" the latter asked.

"Nothing, ma'am." She replied sheepishly.

They were all interrupted when Cloud and Sephiroth entered the office with a serious looks on their faces. "He doesn't want to come up here." Cloud pointed out.

"Where is he?" President ShinRa asked.

"He locked himself up in his room." Cloud replied.

Silence.

"Does he plan on coming out from there?" his father asked.

"I don't think so," Cloud replied.

President ShinRa just scratched his head and then turned to Sephiroth. "Since Heidegger's now my general because of Lockheart's death, you've been assigned to be Rufus's, if I'm not mistaken." He said.

"Yes, sir." Sephiroth replied with a stiff look on his face.

"Aww, Sephiroth, I know that my youngest son has done something so offensive to your cousin Tifa's reputation and honor but you have to forgive him because he's your friend and you're already his general." Mrs. ShinRa told him.

Sephiroth just nodded. "I know that." He replied stiffly, trying to hold back his emotions.

Silence.

"Well then, I'm counting on you to take care of Rufus," President ShinRa told him with a proud smile on his face before he got up. "Well then, I have some good news for you boys. Better prepare for a Bachelor's Night party." He began.

Sephiroth and Cloud blinked.

            It was already three in the afternoon and Tifa was just in her new bedroom at the ShinRa HQ, staring into empty space as she remained seated by the window.

She was interrupted when Aerith entered her room and walked to her. "Hi, Teef," she greeted cheerfully.

Tifa turned to Aerith with a blank look on her face. "Aerith," she began, wondering why her cousin was smiling happily.

Aerith sat down beside her and took her hand. "Hey, guess what! You need not worry about your child's future!" she said.

Tifa felt a sudden burst of impatience. "What the hell?! You can schedule an ultra-sound for me and you'll see that I'm not going to have a baby! Nothing happened between me and Rufus, for crying out loud!" she said.

"Oh, Tifa, you're so lucky! You even fell in-love with Rufus so now you're defending him?" Aerith asked.

Silence.

Aerith's face turned serious. "Okay, I believe you. I was only kidding. But my in-laws wouldn't believe it so they decided that you be wed to Rufus," she explained.

Tifa wanted to faint. 

Aerith took her cousin's hand. "But Tifa, they still believe that Rufus really _forced_ you into something that you didn't want to happen so they insist that you marry him as soon as possible to avoid any conflicts with the media and the citizens! Do you understand?" she asked.

The more Tifa wanted to faint.

Aerith smiled gently at her cousin. "Don't worry, you'll be alright here! Everyone's practically nice and they don't care where we came from." She said.

Tifa really fainted.

"Oh my…"Aerith muttered after she watched Tifa fall to the ground.

            "Well at least I wouldn't get worried about getting married to another girl since I'm engaged to Tifa in the first place." Rufus muttered to Sephiroth, Vincent, Cloud and Reno while they were having some tea in his office.

"But I thought you're gay?" Reno joked.

Rufus just stared at him with an annoyed look on his face. Reno just looked away and cleared his own throat, pretending not to notice anything as he changed the subject. "Anyway, Rufus, just between you and me… did you really have sex with Tifa?" he asked.

Rufus raised an eyebrow at him. "Between you and me?" he asked with a mocking tone as he gestured towards Sephiroth, Vincent and Cloud who were looking strangely at him.

Reno laughed. "Oh! Hahahaha! Sorry. I mean… between you and our little group of friends… did you really…"

Rufus did not let him finish, he replied a stern "No."

"Rufus, you can always tell us the truth. I'm your brother. We trust each other. And these are our closest friends!" Cloud said with a serious look on his face.

"I thought that you already believe me when I explained it to you guys just five minutes ago that I did not do anything? I was just trying to talk to her but she wouldn't talk to me so I had to _force _her to listen to me." Rufus explained with a stiff look on his face.

Sephiroth and Reno began to laugh. "Didja hear that? He said _force!_ Haw!" the latter said while laughing.

"But did she listen to you when you forced her to?" Vincent asked, ignoring the laughter, wanting to keep a calm composure.

"Well, I did forced her to listen to me but she just started screaming like I'm really going to do something stupid to her." Rufus said with his usual poker-face.

The laughter became intense; Sephiroth's laughter dominated over Reno's, "Mwahahahahahaha! He said _forced!_ Mwahahahahahaha!" he said rather gleefully.

Rufus could feel his own temper rising but he just kept his feelings to himself. "I'm gonna go and see her now." He told them before he got up and left.

Vincent eyed Sephiroth and Reno quite strangely. "You guys are really a riot," he told them.

"I know!" Sephiroth replied while still laughing.

Cloud just shook his head in disbelief. "I thought you guys already believe Rufus that he didn't do anything stupid to Tifa?" he asked.

"I believe him, I really do; but I couldn't help but pester him about it. Heheh," Reno said.

Cloud rolled his eyes and looked away. "Right." He replied with a glum look on his face before turning his gaze to Vincent. "But how do you think Tifa's gonna take this?" he asked.

Vincent just looked at him with silence.

With that, Cloud got up. "I'd better go and follow Rufus." He said before leaving.

            "She still hasn't recovered yet." Aerith told Rufus with a sad look on her face.

Rufus just shrugged and sat down on the couch beside Tifa's bed with a stiff look on his face. "What made her faint?" he asked.

They were slightly interrupted when Cloud burst into the room, but stopped in his tracks when he saw that Tifa was lying on the bed, unconscious. With that, he eyed Rufus with a suspicious look on his face, "Did you do something stupid to her again or you nagged her or something?" he asked.

Rufus just stared up at his older brother with a serious look on his face. "No, I did not. She's already on that bed even before I entered." He said.

Cloud shut the door and went to them. "What happened to her?" he asked his wife.

"I told her that she's gonna get married to Rufus and then she fainted." She replied.

"Did you tell her about the engagement thing?" Rufus asked.

"Not yet. You told me not to, remember?" Aerith told him.

"Why not tell her?" Cloud asked, turning to Rufus.

"She might throw a fit." Rufus replied.

"How would you know?" Cloud asked.

"I just know. Based on what happened yesterday in Nibelheim, it is highly possible that she could just start screaming again. I don't wanna get blamed for any other goddamn crime that I didn't even commit." Rufus muttered miserably with a glum look on his face.

"So you told her the old reason, Aerith?" Cloud asked, turning back to his wife.

Aerith nodded her head. "Yeah. Told her that Ma and Pa wants her to marry Rufus so that she wouldn't be disgraced and Rufus wouldn't be disgraced too… and also so that the family wouldn't be disgraced." She replied with a weak smile on her face.

Rufus was really annoyed at the fact that his parents would not even listen to him, but he still managed to keep a straight face and hold everything inside. He wished that he could burst at that moment already and slap their faces with his problems, but he just couldn't. He did not know how to do it.

Once in his childhood, he could clearly remembered being compared so often with Cloud. He did not really mind being compared with Cloud because he knows that he's way smarter, more talented when it comes to the arts, he's taller than Cloud and *ahem*, not to mention more handsome. 

Rufus flipped his hair with those thoughts in his mind and got up from the couch, walking over to the window so that Cloud and Aerith wouldn't see him smiling proudly to himself. "What's wrong with me? How come they still think that Cloud's better?" he thought silently, his smile fading away upon reaching the window.

He watched his brother and his sister-in-law conversing together in one corner of the room away from Tifa through the reflection on the glass. "Maybe because he's more active… in a sense, more sociable because he gets to go out more often and doesn't live under a rock… and he has a wife. He gets to have more fun by playing games, hanging out with Vincent, Sephiroth and Reno… he talks to the Turks like they're his friends... he isn't stuck-up… he dresses simply… and he can go around the whole of Midgar without complaining about the slums. He knows how to use that big sword of his… while I'm stuck with my shotgun and didn't even care about my fencing lessons before… I hated archery but Old Man forced me to learn it. Hmf… look at them… Aerith and Cloud… they're so perfect together… everyone adores them. Feh… if they're so perfect how come they don't have any children yet?" he ended his inner monologue with a question before he decided to open the window to let some fresh air in. He felt the cool breeze hit his face and he smiled slightly before he leaned forward against the ledge to take a good look at the whole of Midgar from there. "Soon, this will be all mine… mine alone." He thought silently with a stiff look on his face before turning to Aerith and Cloud who were still talking to one another. "Man, don't they ever shut up?" he thought silently. "Well at least I am Vice President of Midgar and this company… and then I'll take over as president…" he thought mindlessly before walking over to Tifa.

As he looked at her, his mind suddenly became blank. He just stood there beside her and stared at her.

Cloud and Aerith stopped talking upon noticing that Rufus was just standing there beside Tifa and staring down at her. Aerith was about to say something to Rufus, but she stopped when Tifa slowly opened her eyes.

"Where am…" Tifa trailed off when she saw Rufus. She stiffened as she felt goosebumps all over her body. Her eyes widened in fear of him as she immediately sat up and moved away from Rufus.

He just stared coldly at her. "How are you?" he asked stiffly.

She was just silent.

"Listen. You are going to marry me, is that understood?" he asked her directly.

She swallowed hard. He sounded like he was commanding her or something… she didn't know… but it suddenly intimidated her.

Rufus flipped his hair and turned away from her. "I couldn't risk exchanging marriage vows with some other girl who's engaged to me so I just decided to take you as my wife so that my parents wouldn't continue my engagement with that other girl," he told her.

Cloud and Aerith were stunned at what they heard.

"I'll see you tonight for dinner." Rufus told her before leaving, avoiding the confused looks on Cloud and Aerith's faces.

Cloud went after him, "Rufus," he called out.

As soon as they got out of Tifa's room, Cloud grabbed hold of Rufus's sleeve to stop him. "What was that all about?" he demanded.

"I did not tell her the truth that she's the one engaged to me. Let her think of this situation as though I'm saving her from disgrace and poverty that the outside world could offer because she has nowhere else to go and no one else would accept her," Rufus replied snobbishly with an airy look on his face.

Cloud just couldn't understand his younger brother and his me-myself-and-I attitude. "But Rufus, she'll think that you're just using her!" he reasoned out.

"Whatever. That's her concern already, not mine." Rufus replied before moving away from Cloud and walked away.

Cloud watched him in disbelief as he disappeared through the hallway going to the elevators.

On his way to the elevators, Rufus was surprised to see Sephiroth, Reno and Vincent going the opposite direction. 

"Hey, Rufus," Reno greeted.

Rufus kept a straight face and just pretended that he didn't hear anything. He kept on walking until he reached the first elevator.

"What's up with him?" Sephiroth asked as they continued to walk.

Upon reaching Tifa's room, they were surprised to see the door open and Cloud was standing by the doorway with an annoyed look on his face.

"What happened?" Vincent asked him.

Cloud shook his head in a manner that expressed some kind of hopelessness before he walked out of the room.

Sephiroth and the others could hear Aerith talking gently to Tifa as if calming her…

She is calming her.

Sephiroth entered the room, expecting to see Tifa crying, but she isn't. She was just staring blankly into empty space as if she had lost her soul or something. "What happened to her?" Sephiroth asked.

Aerith looked up at her older brother and then back at Tifa again. "I think she's gonna snap…" she said softly.

Vincent and Reno saw how disturbing Tifa looked.

"I… I… I…" Tifa tried to speak, but she fainted again.

"Oh great…" Sephiroth exclaimed with a look of disbelief and confusion on his face before he turned away from Aerith for a while, and then faced her again with a weak smile on his face. "What did Rufus do this time?" he asked his sister.

She smiled weakly before she began to explain…

-------------------------------------------------------------- 

-end-

Author's notes: you really hate me, huh? =( 


	4. Plans To Kill An Unborn Child

Loving A ShinRa

By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: Like I have mentioned in the first three chapters, I do not own anything but the story plot. Any resemblances to any other story plots are purely coincidental.

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

-Four: Plans To Kill An Unborn Child-

            "Kyahahaha! You all heard the news already… Rufus is getting hitched to Aerith and Sephiroth's cousin! Kyah…" Scarlet blurted out with a nasty look on her face before she took her seat inside the conference room.

"I don't think that this is the right moment for us to talk about that matter, Scarlet… not before a meeting is about to start and while the President is not yet here." Reeve suggested.

She pounded on the table before turning her gaze to him. "Kyah," she sneered at him.

"Gyahahahahahaha! Looks like Hojo's plan didn't work at all, huh?" Heidegger asked with a mocking tone as he eyed Hojo carefully.

The scientist just ignored the mocking looks from Heidegger, Palmer and Scarlet.

"Tra la la! Maybe you have other brilliant plans about getting a much higher salary, huh, Hojo?" Palmer asked.

"Yes, rather than stealing a dead man's riches… so look what you've done. You've worsened the situation! Now our Vice President is going to marry the daughter of that dead man." Heidegger said airily.

"Relax, relax, my fellow executives. I have plans, don't worry. But I won't reveal it now…" Hojo said.

"At least tell us what you're planning to do." Scarlet suggested with a mean smile on her face.

Reeve just rolled his eyes and looked away from his fellow executives. He pretended to be reading his report as he listened to Hojo, "Well, it involves using the Vice President's fiancée for my next experiment… it would therefore kill her in the process. Hahahahaha!"

Reeve's eyes widened as he stared unbelievably at Hojo.

Hojo turned sharply to him, "What? You got a problem with that?" he demanded with an evil smile on his face.

Reeve just looked away.

Scarlet, however, was silent. She did not laugh with Hojo, Palmer and Heidegger.

            "That's the second time she's fainted for today… but last night, she fainted thrice. You think something's wrong with her already?" Aerith asked with a worried look on her face as she watched Lucrecia examine Tifa.

Lucrecia had finished monitoring Tifa's heartbeat and pulse rate so she turned to Aerith with a calm smile on her face. "She is just tired. She's been through a lot lately as Vinny had mentioned to me," she explained.

Aerith nodded her head sadly. "Yes, yes. Ever since Uncle, her father, died, she wouldn't eat well… and then came the problem with Rufus." She sat down on the bed beside Tifa and stroked the sleeping girl's hair gently. "But is she going to be alright? Sephiroth and I are already worried about her… even the First Lady is concerned about her health." She explained.

Lucrecia put aside her stethoscope before turning back to Aerith. "I think she'll be fine. Just make sure that she isn't pressured too much because it can trigger her depression and this fainting thing might happen every now and then and if it continues, her heart might weaken and it might do something bad to her baby," she explained.

Aerith and Cloud were silent for a while before the latter spoke up, "Uhm… Lucrecia, what news did you hear about Tifa and Rufus?"

Lucrecia studied the look on Cloud's face before replying, "Rufus raped her."

Cloud twitched. "Word goes around quickly, huh, Aerith?" he asked.

Aerith sighed heavily. "I just hope it doesn't reach the media." She muttered miserably.

"Why? Isn't that what happened?" Lucrecia asked.

"Didn't Vincent tell you anything else?" Aerith asked.

"No. He said that he wants to remain silent about it since he's a Turk and there are rules about secrecy." Lucrecia replied.

"You see… Rufus didn't do anything to Tifa. He was just trying to force her to listen to him, being the spoiled brat that he is, so he had to stop her from running away from him. She became panicky and screamed; we all thought that something bad was really happening. Upon seeing him on top of Tifa and pinning her down to the ground, we all jumped into conclusions without even letting him explain everything… moments later, we all gave him a chance to explain… except for our mother who refused to believe Rufus." Cloud replied with a serious look on his face.

Lucrecia blinked in awe. "Oh my…" she said in disbelief.

"It's true," Aerith said.

Lucrecia shook her head in disbelief. "That is so shocking…but… what about Tifa? Oh, the poor girl… she's still going to marry Rufus?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

"Yes. It turns out that Lockheart and dad signed a contract that Tifa and Rufus be married. My dad agreed to assure Lockheart of Tifa's safety once he dies. Rufus already knows this, but he refuses to let Tifa know the truth so he told her something else. Moments ago, it was like he commanded her to marry him or else he's going to make her regret that she didn't. That made her faint the second time today." Cloud explained.

Silence.

They were interrupted when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Aerith called out.

The door slowly opened and there was Tseng. "Sir Cloud, Ma'am Aerith, it's time for dinner. The President is already waiting for you downstairs in the dining hall." He announced with a serious look on his face.

"Thank you, Tseng," Aerith replied.

With that, Tseng exited.

Lucrecia got her stethoscope and her other things. "Well, I'd better get back to the laboratory now." She said with a sweet smile on her face. "But before that," she reached for her lab jacket's pocket and pulled out a small bottle of red capsules. "She's too pale and her pulse rate isn't normal. This will help calm her down. Don't worry, these are not made by Hojo. This is from the drugstore." She explained with a smile on her face before placing it on top of the bedside table.

"Thank you, Lucrecia," Aerith said.

Cloud hesitated for a moment before he asked Lucrecia frankly, "How can you take working in the laboratory with Hojo?"

Lucrecia smiled calmly at him. "I isolate myself with the computers, he works with the experiments. Besides, I make sure that one of the Turks are there so secure the place. Rude does the work. I always tell him that he should stand guard by the post nearest to me." She explained.

"That's good to hear, I guess… because I think that guy's a dirty old man. When Cloud asked him to treat me when I got sick last month, I couldn't take the way he's staring at me." Aerith explained with a disgusted look on her face.

"I'm not worried so much about Professor Hojo; I've got Vinny!" Lucrecia said with a slight blush on her face as she giggled happily before strutting out of the room, but then returned after a few seconds. "Oh, by the way… Aerith, your results came in just this afternoon… Congratulations. You will become a mother soon… and to you too, Cloud. You're gonna be a father soon!" she announced with a pleased smile on her face before she walked out of the room again.

Cloud's eyes widened upon hearing the news. Aerith covered her mouth to stop herself from screeching happily. "Oh my God… Cloud! I'm so happy!!!" she said in a stifled scream as she pulled Cloud out of the room. The moment they reached the hallway, they started to cheer happily.

"A baby! Oh Cloud, I'm so excited! I can't wait to see the baby!" Aerith said happily.

"I can't believe it!!! Aerith, I…" Cloud was about to say, but was rudely interrupted by a "Kyah" from behind them.

They stiffened and turned around to see Scarlet staring strangely at them. "Kyah…" Scarlet struggled to say.

Cloud frowned at her as Aerith hid behind him. He knew that his wife hated Scarlet but he doesn't know what to do about it. He could not just tell his father to fire the slut because of the reason that she hates his wife… so as much as possible, he just protects Aerith from Scarlet and all the other executives.

"What do you want, Scarlet?" he asked stiffly.

"The President is waiting for you in the dining hall, Sir Cloud." Scarlet replied.

Silence.

"Okay." Cloud replied before taking Aerith's hand and walked away.

Scarlet sneered at them. "Hmf… those two. Kyah…" she walked away, going to the opposite direction with a stiff look on her face. She stopped in her tracks when she bumped against Heidegger. "Gyahahahaha! Hey, Scarlet, did you pick up some information?" he asked.

"Kyah… you should really gargle if you're gonna laugh like that… *cough, cough* Ugh…" Scarlet said, fanning her face as she took a few steps away from Heidegger.

Heidegger raised his eyebrow at her. "Gyah…" he said, feeling rather embarrassed because of his bad breath.

"Anyway, Cloud and Aerith are happy. They mentioned something about a baby," Scarlet explained.

"A baby?" Heidegger asked in disbelief.

"But let us not jump into conclusions because…" Scarlet trailed off when she heard Hojo speak up from one dark corner of the hallway, "Hahaha… so, the girl is pregnant, huh?"

"Kyahahaha! I just mentioned that we shouldn't jump into conclusions," Scarlet said.

But the two ignored her. Hojo spoke up with a nasty tone. "I should tell Lucrecia to leave all her medications to me and I'll take care of the girl." With that, he walked away.

"Don't tell me he's going to kill Tifa?" Scarlet asked.

"Gyah… knowing Hojo, he's going to do more worse things than that," Heidegger muttered.

Scarlet thought for a while before smiling evilly at Heidegger. "Kyahahahaha! Oh well, as long as you guys give me a share of the money that you're gonna get from your next salary. I'll cooperate… but I have to go now. Ta-ta!" she went to the other direction away from Heidegger and as soon as she got away from Heidegger, her facial expression turned frantic. Her smile faded away and she was clenching her fists as she marched quickly down the hallway going to Tifa's room.

She slowly opened the door to the girl's room and entered slowly, checking at first if someone else is inside. Relieved that there was no one else there, she sighed in relief before slowly making her way to the unconscious young lady. She stood steadily by the bed, eyeing the sleeping girl with a worried look on her face. She was about to touch the girl's face but she jerked and withdrew her hand away before turning back to the door. Her eyes widened upon seeing Rufus standing behind Elena who was carrying a tray of food.

"What are you doing here?" Rufus demanded with a deep frown on his face.

Elena ignored the troubled look on Scarlet's face as she approached the bedside table and placed the tray of food there.

Scarlet hesitated for several moments before answering, "Kyah… I was just checking on her, sir…"

Rufus stepped inside and went to her, scanning her from head to toe. "Give me a good reason on why you're checking on her." he commanded stiffly.

"Kyah… to… to see if she's alright… sir… kyahahaha," she laughed uncomfortably before rushing out of the room.

Elena placed her hands on her hips. "I wouldn't trust her that much, Sir Rufus." She pointed out with a frown on her face.

Rufus just looked away from the door as soon as Scarlet got out and turned her gaze to Tifa. He reached for her shoulder and shook her. "Hey, wake up," he said in a loud voice.

Elena's eyes widened. "Um… Sir, I don't think you should wake her up right now, she's still tired. Miss Lucrecia said that she should rest and…" she stammered.

"Bloody hell, Elena!" he snapped at her before turning back to Tifa with an annoyed look on his face. "Wake up," he demanded.

Tifa slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was, at first, blurry, but it immediately adjusted the moment she laid eyes on Rufus. She sat up, holding the blanket up to her chin as she stared at him in fear without saying anything. Her mouth was slightly open and her breathing was uneven as she was breathing from her mouth.

Rufus greeted her by raising his eyebrows at her before turning to Elena. "There you go. Feed her. I'm checking back on her after my dinner with the others downstairs. Make sure she finishes her food or else…" he threatened before marching out of the room.

Elena raised her eyebrow at Rufus with a look of disbelief on her face. "What the hell is he talking about?!" she said in disbelief before turning to Tifa and noticed that the girl looked more stressed-out than before. Tifa's eyes were wide and they easily reflected too much confusion and fear.

Elena scanned the things on top of the bedside table besides the food and the lamp. She saw the bottle of medicine and smiled as she got it. "Oh here it is. Miss Lockheart, this is for you to calm down. Would you like to take it now or after dinner?" she asked.

Tifa just stared up at her.

Elena smiled uneasily at her. "Miss Lockheart? Can you even hear me?" she asked, thinking that Tifa must've lost her mind already.

Tifa relaxed a little. "I don't want to eat." She decided.

Elena gasped as she placed the bottle of medicine on top of the bedside table again. "But you have to! Otherwise, Rufus will get mad!" she said frantically.

"For all I care," Tifa replied snottily before she looked away.

"Don't you understand? He might throw a fit and… Oh, Miss Lockheart, it's gonna be like hell! His temper tantrum is like his limit break… and I think it's worse than Sephiroth's strongest attack!" Elena reasoned.

"And if he does get angry and if I don't eat this, what will he do to you and me?" Tifa asked with a challenging look on her face.

"He's probably gonna give me a salary deduction and he's probably going to do something… bad… to you again. Eeps!" Elena explained with a nervous smile on her face.

Tifa stared unbelievably at her. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Elena," 

Tifa thought for a while. "Reno's girlfriend?" she asked, remembering that she had overheard that name before from Reno himself.

Elena slightly blushed. "Well… yes," she said.

"Reno is Rufus's friend. He wouldn't dare harm his friend's girlfriend, I can assure you that… unless he's really inconsiderate," Tifa pointed out.

"Miss Lockheart, he _is_ inconsiderate," Elena pointed out.

Silence.

Elena reached for the spoon and the bowl of mushroom soup. "Please, I know that it's very unappetizing to think of Rufus right now especially since after what he's done to you, but just finish this bowl of soup and I'll just dispose of the main course or give it to the dogs or the cats before he could come back here." She pleaded with a sad look on her face.

Tifa nodded slowly with a kind smile on her face. She knew at that instant that Elena could just be one of her friends in that one hell of a place like ShinRa. 

Being in ShinRa for less than 24 hours already gave Tifa the impression that it has a very unfriendly atmosphere and she only knew a few people from there. She wasn't even sure if she could trust the First Lady who immediately showed too much concern and care for her. As for the President, she just reminded herself that her father once served this man and enjoyed his job as this man's general, so maybe she could really assume that he is a person to be trusted. Anyway, as for Cloud, he has been one of her friends during her childhood days when the ShinRa people still couldn't find him. During those times, Tifa still lived with Sephiroth and Aerith in their house; Cloud would often come over and play with Aerith and Sephiroth whenever the Strifes would allow him to do so. However, when it was discovered that Cloud is the eldest son of President ShinRa who had been missing for some 10 years after his birth, Tifa sort of distanced herself from Cloud because she felt intimidated by rich people. Her father was the one who discovered that Cloud, after all, is a ShinRa. 

Tifa proceeded to finish the soup but she almost choked when a black panther-like animal suddenly entered with mean-looking eyes. "Oh my goodness! What's that?" she asked in surprise as she moved away a little from Elena.

Elena blinked and turned around to see what Tifa had seen. Her eyes widened. "Dark Nation?" she asked nervously.

The black animal walked elegantly towards the bed and then climbed on it, going to Tifa and sniffing her.

Tifa could feel her heartbeat racing. It was as big as Aerith's pet, Red XIII, but it looked scarier.

The look in the panther's eyes suddenly changed and it seemed to appear tame. "Meowrr," it began to purr as it sat down beside Tifa and nuzzled its head against Tifa's neck.

Tifa was shocked, but relieved at the same time. She felt herself relax. "Oh, she's so sweet…" she hugged the big kitty and stroked its shiny black coat. "She's so beautiful… what's her name again?" she asked happily.

Elena wondered why the black kitty hated everyone else but Tifa. Usually, the animal would be so unkind to everyone else and would end up scratching or biting them. "Uhm… her name is Dark Nation." She replied uneasily.

"Really? What a name… is she the President's pet?" Tifa asked as she kissed the panther on its forehead.

The panther licked her face. Tifa giggled. "Oh, Elena, she's so adorable!" she said happily.

"She's actually Rufus's pet." Elena replied, quite relieved that Tifa was already happy.

Tifa stiffened and looked at Dark Nation, then at Elena. "What?" she asked with a tone of disbelief.

"Yes, she is Sir Rufus's pet. Right, Dark Nation?" Elena asked, turning to the big cat.

The big cat hissed at her angrily before turning back to Tifa and purred happily again. The cat then turned to the food and jumped off the bed, went to the bedside table and gobbled up the lamb chops, the buttered vegetables, the mashed potatoes and even the chocolate cake.

"Whoa, she's hungry," Tifa said in awe.

Dark Nation began to lick herself clean and meowed happily at Tifa as if trying to look so cute and adorable.

Tifa smiled sweetly at the panther.

"Well, looks like I don't have to throw the food away," Elena said with a relieved smile on her face.

"Yeah… what do you feed her anyway? She seems so hungry," Tifa said as she summoned the big cat to climb up her bed again. Dark Nation happily jumped up on Tifa's bed and lied down beside her, purring happily.

"Specialized cat food from the laboratory." Elena replied.

"Laboratory?" Tifa asked.

"Well, since you are going to be joining us forever here in ShinRa, I think I'd better start introducing to you the culture of this place and who is who and what is what." Elena said with a happy look on her face. She just loved talking.

"How long have you been here in ShinRa, Elena?" Tifa asked.

"Just a year. Started off as an ordinary employee and then months later, I got promoted to the Turks. Heehee! It's so fun… except when you see the executives," Elena began.

Tifa made a face, "Oh those guys? My dad despised them. When he would be coming home for a vacation, he would tell me how annoying Heidegger and the others are… except for Reeve, whoever he is." She replied.

"Oh, Mr. Reeve is the nicest among those executives. Heidegger's the one handling SOLDIER and us Turks; Scarlet's the head of the Weapons Department; Reeve is the head for Urban Development; Palmer's the head of Space Development and Hojo is the Chief Scientist." Elena replied.

"Oh yeah… Hojo… I've heard some things about him from Sephiroth and Aerith." Tifa explained.

"Yeah… and I think that of all the executives, he's the scariest among all of them," pointed out.

"I know, my dad mentioned some things about him and it's really creeping me out." Tifa replied uneasily.

            Rufus crinkled his nose while chewing a piece of chocolate cake. He is beginning to get tired of listening to his parents praising Cloud and Aerith because of the upcoming baby.

He almost choked when the First Lady just spoke up to him, "And you, Rufus. Take good care of Tifa and your baby, okay?" she asked.

"Why? Is she five months pregnant already and you made her undergo ultrasound and found out that it's a bouncing baby boy or girl whatsoever?" Rufus asked airily.

"Stop that sarcasm, Rufus," President ShinRa snapped at him.

"I am not being sarcastic. I was just asking mommy a question, daddy," Rufus muttered miserably.

The First Lady just eyed him carefully. "Your father and I have decided that the wedding will take place two days from now." She announced.

"Isn't that too soon?" Cloud asked curiously.

"The sooner the better. It's gonna be a big controversy if the people from outside ShinRa would see Tifa's tummy getting big and she's not yet married to Rufus." President ShinRa replied.

"Okay, mommy and daddy… how many grandchildren would you like to have?" Rufus asked with a rather sarcastic tone.

"Ohohohohohoho! Rufus, you're such a nasty man… now, don't you dare give Tifa a hard time, okay?" Mrs. ShinRa teased while giggling happily.

Rufus made a face before he stood up and walked out of the room.

Cloud and Aerith exchanged troubled glances as they listened to President ShinRa and the First Lady talk about filling the whole building with children.

"Honestly, Aerith, I think two kids are fine with me." Cloud whispered discreetly to her.

Aerith smiled weakly. "I think so too… let Tifa and Rufus do the rest for Ma and Pa," she said.

The two chuckled.

            Lucrecia had fallen asleep while constructing a molecular model with her computer, not aware of the danger lurking around her.

Hojo walked carefully to her, watching her with a sly smile on his face. Rude was having his dinner so he thought that it was the right opportunity to get close to Lucrecia without anyone around; however, just as he was about to touch her, he withdrew his hand and quickly moved away from her when he heard the main door of the laboratory open. Rufus walked in with a serious look on his face, "Is Lucrecia there?" he asked.

Lucrecia instantly got up in a jiffy upon hearing Rufus's voice. "Oh… good evening, Sir Rufus," she greeted sleepily as she fixed herself up a little.

"I want you to take care of Tifa's health since I know that you have experience in medicine." Rufus told her.

Before Lucrecia could answer, Hojo spoke up, "Sir Rufus, Lucrecia is rather busy here in the laboratory constructing molecular models for the new formulas that we're creating to produce…"

Blah blah blah. Scientific Terms. Rufus could understand him but did not give a damn about it. "What-ever, Professor Hojo. And what you're trying to say is?" Rufus cut him short.

"That you let me be the one to take care of Miss Lockheart." Hojo replied with a keen smile on his face.

Rufus eyed him carefully before replying with a stiff  "No," and turned back to Lucrecia. 

Lucrecia smiled gently at Rufus. "Yes, Sir. I'd love to be Miss Lockheart's doctor." She said with a pleased look on her face.

"Good. I'll make sure dad gives you a salary raise if you perform well." Rufus explained. With that, he left them.

Lucrecia sighed happily as she clasped her hands together. "Two responsibilities… Aerith and Tifa. That's going to be a lot of challenge for me but I'll be fine."

"Lucrecia, darling. Why don't you just leave Miss Lockheart to me? I'm sure you're beginning to get sick of your job here," Hojo told her.

Lucrecia cringed when she heard him. "No, I can manage, Professor Hojo," she replied before moving away from him and headed outside the laboratory.

Hojo followed her with his gaze until she got out of the lab. With that, he turned to the area with the medicines reserved for a pregnant woman. "Without an heir for Rufus and Tifa, it will be the end of ShinRa. Hahahahaha." He said softly as he took one bottle and replaced it with another. "Now, let's see what will happen…" he thought silently with an evil smile before he proceeded to the main door, switching off the lights, leaving the laboratory to go and report to President ShinRa about his new developments for Mako Reactors.

The moment he left, the back entrance door opened and someone entered. 

Her shoes were making loud clacking noises but she hoped that no one is in there to hear her. The only lights that were switched on were coming from lab tables where there are test tubes and microscopes, making the whole laboratory look so dim that it was hard to make your way around it without being careful. She reached the area where Hojo had placed the medicine. Being cautious like always, she had surgical gloves on. She picked up the bottle and opened it, putting the capsules inside a plastic bag and then replacing it with new capsules. With that, she closed it, put it back in its original place and then left.

Moments later, Vincent and Lucrecia returned to the laboratory.

"Hojo switched off the lights again," Lucrecia realized as she opened them and gazed around.

"Where's Rude?" Vincent asked as they went over to her work area. 

"I think Heidegger gave him a new mission. Reno and Tseng are also out." Lucrecia replied as she got the medicine bottle. "Thanks for coming with me here, Vinny. I really don't feel so comfortable around Hojo," she admitted with a disgusted look on her face.

Vincent patted her shoulder gently. "Don't worry, if he does something to you, don't hesitate to come to me." He told her.

She smiled sweetly before giving him a kiss. "Can you come up with me? I need to give this to Aerith. These are her vitamins so that she wouldn't have a hard time conceiving and so that the baby will be healthy when it arrives." She explained.

"Sure, no problem," Vincent replied. They were about to leave but they stopped when Hojo entered again and was muttering to himself, "Damn… he cancelled the meeting…" he stopped when he saw Vincent and Lucrecia. He frowned at Vincent before he focused his gaze onto Lucrecia. "Well, where are you going?" he asked.

"Upstairs. I need to give this to Aerith," Lucrecia replied, showing him the bottle.

Hojo's eyes widened a little and Vincent couldn't help but notice it.

"What's that?" Hojo asked, pretending not to know anything.

"Vitamins. Pregnant women usually take this for themselves and for their baby. Aerith is pregnant, don't you know?" Lucrecia asked before she grabbed Vincent's hand and led the way out of the laboratory, leaving Hojo there with his fists clenched in annoyance. He pounded on the table. "Damn! Wrong victim! Aerith's child is going to die… hmf… next time, I'll just give the poison to Tifa myself…" he thought angrily.

            It was already 11 pm and Rufus was looking for Dark Nation; on his way to Tifa's room, he saw Cloud and Aerith walking towards the opposite direction. "Hey, Rufus," Cloud greeted with a slight smile on his face.

Rufus smiled slightly at them before stopping to acknowledge them. "Congratulations on your upcoming baby," he said.

"Thanks," Aerith replied with a sweet smile on her face before she and Cloud proceeded to go to their room.

Upon entering Tifa's room, Rufus realized that Scarlet was there, standing beside Tifa's bed and staring blankly at her as she slept.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Scarlet turned to Rufus with a tired look on her face. "Kyah… Sir Rufus… good evening," she greeted.

Rufus approached the bed and realized that Dark Nation was sleeping beside Tifa. He raised an eyebrow. "What the…" he began.

Scarlet smiled weakly at Rufus. "The First Lady told me to bring these Wedding magazines to Miss Lockheart," she explained, referring to the magazines that she had placed on top of the bedside table.

"No need to let her choose a gown; just prepare the motif… by the way, the it's red and white. I'll tell you the details tomorrow but you have to get her measurements." Rufus explained.

Scarlet just nodded her head before leaving.

Rufus went to Dark Nation and patted her head. "Hey, let's go," he said.

Dark Nation just pushed Rufus's hand away with her paw and snuggled closer to Tifa. It eventually woke Tifa and she sleepily turned her gaze to her side, not knowing that Rufus was there. She smiled rather sadly at him before she closed her eyes again as she sighed heavily. Rufus could tell that she had fallen asleep again. With that, he just rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, frustrated that his pet is acting like a traitor to him.


	5. The Wedding Dress

Loving A ShinRa

By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: Like I have mentioned in the first three chapters, I do not own anything but the story plot. Any resemblances to any other story plots are purely coincidental.

Author's Notes: I am not really sure about Tifa's sizes, so I just guessed the "closest" to it. I just estimated it. Don't blame me. It's in my own point of view when I stared at her pictures for several hours.

-------------------------------------------------------------- 

-Five: The Wedding Dress-

            "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Rufus shook the sleeping Tifa Lockheart rather violently just to wake her up.

Tifa slowly opened her eyes and gazed up at Rufus. "Wh…what?" she asked, feeling confused as she slowly sat up. She realized that it was already morning.

"Rufus, be gentle!" The First Lady snapped at him.

"Yeah, whatever, anyway, she's awake now," Rufus replied stubbornly before turning to Tifa again. "Scarlet's gonna measure you." He told her.

"M…measure me?" she asked.

"Honey, we have to get your measurements for your wedding gown," the First Lady said gently as she stroked Tifa's hair gently.

Scarlet sneered at Tifa and it made the young woman feel a little bothered. "Uhm… can I just give you my measurements?" Tifa asked.

"Nonsense, Tifa. You stand up there now and let Scarlet measure you," Rufus said, forcing her to get out of bed, but the First Lady slapped his hand away from her. "Rufus! I told you to be gentle! You wouldn't wanna give her any bruises, you know?!" she snapped impatiently at her son.

Rufus moved away, rolling his eyes before observing his mother helping Tifa to stand up. 

As she stood up carefully, she lifted her gaze up to Rufus who was standing far from her. She eyed him with annoyance in her eyes. "Man… he's so rough… if that keeps up, I'm gonna divorce him," she thought miserably as she finally got up and Scarlet approached her with a tape measure and started to do her work while the First Lady listed the measurements. Afterwards, Tifa sat down on the bed again with a frown on her face.

"Okay, now Scarlet, maybe you could run along now and search for the perfect wedding gown for Tifa." The First Lady said as she handed Scarlet the small paper where she had written the measurements. Scarlet read it out loud, "36C, 26, 36…" she trailed off when Tifa snapped, "Hey!"

Rufus raised an eyebrow, stifling a smile as he turned away from them.

Tifa blushed when she noticed Rufus's reaction.

"Be back by evening, Scarlet. Get her some nice shoes too," The First Lady said.

"But, ma'am, I'm going to accompany President ShinRa together with Heidegger and Reeve to the conference in Junon." Scarlet reasoned.

"What about the others?" Mrs. ShinRa asked in surprise.

"Palmer and Hojo are available…" Scarlet began, but stopped when Rufus snatched the paper from her grasp. "Thank you very much, Scarlet and mommy dearest; but I think I'll just let my own _assistants_ do the shopping for Tifa's clothes and accessories." He said with a rather sarcastic tone before he winked at Tifa and left the room, silently thinking, "Ugh… I wouldn't let Palmer and Hojo do the job. They'll just mess up. Plus, I think those two are dirty old men…" he proceeded to his office and immediately went to his intercom and made a call to the Soldiers' barracks downstairs. "Will you send Sephiroth over here to my office? This is Rufus ShinRa." And made another call to the Turks' office. "Tseng, send Reno and Vincent over here in my office. This is Rufus." And sat down, waiting for the three.

Sephiroth was the first one to arrive. "Yeah, what do you want, Rufus?" he asked.

Rufus handed him the piece of paper. "I'm busy today here in my office so can you do me and your cousin a favor?" he asked.

Sephiroth got the paper and read the details. He blushed slightly. "What the hell is this?!" he demanded.

"Body measurements. Get the best wedding gown and the best shoes and the best jewelry for her. Just make sure that the gown's got red and white on it." Rufus replied with a serious look on his face as he began to open his briefcase.

"Why me?" Sephiroth asked.

"Because Tifa is your cousin and you know her taste," Rufus replied.

"Don't you think she should do it herself with Elena, Lucrecia and Aerith?" Sephiroth suggested with an airy look on his face.

"Tifa is still weak as Lucrecia had mentioned. Aerith is pregnant, it's bad for her to move too much according to mom… and Elena is going to be guarding Tifa so that leaves us guys… unfortunately, I'll be busy here and Cloud is still asleep. Don't worry, Vincent and Reno are coming with you." Rufus explained as he began to read through his documents.

Silence.

"I don't mind Vinny coming along with me but Reno?!" Sephiroth asked in disbelief.

"What's wrong with Reno?" Rufus asked, pretending not to know anything about Reno's perversion.

Reno and Vincent suddenly entered with puzzled looks on their faces. "What's up?" Reno greeted.

Sephiroth handed the paper to Vincent. "We have to shop for Tifa's gown and other girly stuff for weddings." He said.

"Oh, and buy Tifa some new wardrobe for everyday wear. Something for business, casual, formal…" Rufus began to cite the styles.

"What?" Vincent asked in disbelief.

"Oh yeah, and buy yourselves some suits too." Rufus replied.

"Don't have money." Reno replied.

"Then charge it under my account." Rufus told them.

Reno snickered. "Okay… are we also going to buy Tifa some clothes for your honeymoon in Costa del Sol?" he asked.

Sephiroth elbowed Reno, causing him to howl in pain.

Rufus eyed Reno carefully. "Just make sure it's red, white or black. No other colors." He said.

            "Dammit! Why us?!" Sephiroth asked in disbelief as the three entered the mall.

"Stop complaining, at least Rufus let us borrow his car." Vincent replied with a calm look on his face as they walked over to the Women's Department.

Reno had been smiling ever since they left the ShinRa HQ but Sephiroth and Vincent just decided to ignore it. Upon arriving at the Women's Department, everyone else turned to look at them, surprised at the fact that they were the only men entering that section of the department store.

"This is so embarrassing," Sephiroth muttered miserably as they stopped walking. "Okay, why don't we just split? Vincent will take care of the clothes, I'll handle the shoes and Reno will go to the jewelry section." He told them.

"That's unfair, I wanna do the clothes," Reno said with a malicious smile on his face.

"No, we will not split. We will all do this together to avoid mistakes. You know how Rufus hates having mistakes, right?" Vincent pointed out.

"But if we don't split, we'll take too much time," Sephiroth pointed out.

"Relax, we have all day," Vincent snatched the paper from Sephiroth's grasp. "I'm Rufus's friend but I'm also a Turk, meaning, I work for him too. He can give me salary deductions anytime he wants to and I don't want that to happen," he continued before reading the details on the paper. "Why don't we go to the clothes section first?" he asked as he led the way.

Sephiroth and Reno followed after him.

"What are her measurements anyway?" Reno asked with an impish grin.

"36-26-36." Vincent replied casually.

Reno snickered. "Cup size?" he asked.

Sephiroth eyed him threateningly to make him shut up. Reno just cleared his throat and smiled sheepishly at Sephiroth.

The moment they arrived at the clothes section, the salesgirl approached them. "Good morning, ma'am, good morning, sir," she greeted cheerfully.

Silence.

"I'm a sir." Vincent told the salesgirl with a glum look on his face.

Reno and Sephiroth laughed at him.

The salesgirl blushed. "Oh, sorry, sir…" she said sheepishly.

"Hey, Vinny, I think you should really cut that hair and fatten up a little," Reno teased.

"Look who's talking," Vincent muttered miserably before turning back to the salesgirl. "We're looking for a wedding gown." He said.

"Ooh, we've got lotsa styles! What would you like to have?" The salesgirl went over to the counter and grabbed a catalogue before handing it to them. "Here you go," she said.

Sephiroth got the thick catalogue and frowned before he opened it, scanning the designs. "I forgot to ask Rufus if he wants Tifa to look conservative or not," he said.

"Preferably _not_." Reno suggested.

"Shut up, Reno." Sephiroth and Vincent both said in unison.

"Why? You guys always gang up on me," Reno muttered.

"Coz you deserve it," Sephiroth replied before he flipped the page and saw a rather attractive gown with thick off-shoulder straps, a low v-neckline; empire-cut but slightly hugs the waist. It has pearls sewn along the line just below the chest. "This is perfect for Tifa," he declared.

Reno and Vincent studied it for a while and the latter made a face. "Don't you think that'd emphasize her chest?" he asked.

"I think it's okay," Reno argued.

"She should at least attract her groom, right? I mean, so that when nighttime comes, our dear friend Rufus would be very… *ahem*… you know what I'm talking about. Mwahahaha…" Sephiroth explained with an impish grin on his face.

"That is simply so sick! What if other male guests get distracted by her chest and instead of looking at her while congratulating her, their gazes will lower to that specific direction, if you know what I mean?!" Vincent argued.

"Well what do you want her to wear? A habit?" Sephiroth said mockingly.

"I'm not saying that she should be too conservative, we're just avoiding bad circumstances wherein she's gonna get harassed by other guests… or maybe even the priest," Vincent said.

"C'mon, you guys! This world isn't such a perverted place! Let Tifa wear that gown." Reno said.

"What if Rufus disapproves of it?" Vincent asked.

Sephiroth patted Vincent's shoulder. "Vinny, Vinny, Vinny, dear, dear Vinny…" he began before smiling rather sweetly at him, "Rufus _will like it_. I assure you that! And tell you what, he'll be so speechless once he sees Tifa wearing this and he wouldn't be able to scold us!" he continued.

Vincent just shrugged and turned to the salesgirl. "Do you have a new stock of this one?" he asked, pointing at the gown.

The salesgirl looked at the picture and then nodded. "Yep. What size would you like? Extra-small, small, medium, large, extra-large or extra-extra-large…"

"Can we see the medium and the large?" Vincent asked.

"Okay," the salesgirl said before pressing the intercom button and spoke up, "Medium and large of code WG-5423 please," and faced them again when Reno asked how much is the gown.

"Just around 500,000 Gil," she replied rather cheerfully.

Silence.

"500,000 Gil?" Sephiroth asked in disbelief.

"Yep," the girl replied.

Reno scratched his head. "Are you guys sure that Rufus is willing to spend 500,000 Gil for Tifa's gown?" he asked suspiciously.

"Rufus lives to burn money without a care." Sephiroth reminded them.

"Oh yeah, I remember him buying a new black designer turtleneck worth 45,000 Gil while there's a much cheaper non-designer turtleneck worth only 50 Gil," Vincent said.

"Mwahahaha! Maybe if he wore that 50-Gil turtleneck, he'll develop hives! Mwahahahaha!" Sephiroth pointed out.

"That's exaggerated," Vincent muttered.

"Feh… I think he even buys those designer boxers and briefs worth 1,500 Gil each!" Reno said in disbelief.

"Like what I said, he'll start itching if he wears cheap and non-designer clothes." Sephiroth said with a silly smile on his face.

They were interrupted when they saw another salesgirl approach them with two big white boxes. She placed the boxes on top of the counter and said, "Here they are. Medium and large. Who's getting hitched?" she asked.

"Only the Vice President of Midgar and my cousin," Sephiroth replied before he opened the boxes and pulled out the gowns. He scanned the two. 

Vincent stared at the gowns. "I don't think any of those would fit Tifa." He said.

"Why not?" Reno asked curiously.

"The waistline of the medium is okay, while the large one is way too lose; she'll appear pregnant or something. However, the chest of the medium wouldn't fit her, same with the large." Vincent pointed out with a weak smile on his face.

Silence.

"Those are designer gowns, really fit for Vice President Rufus ShinRa's bride," the salesgirl said.

"Yeah, but the bride's pretty booby so these won't fit her," Reno said directly.

Sephiroth nudged him to make him shut up.

The salesgirl smiled. "Well, we could have it custom-made if you want to. Just give us her measurements and it'll be ready in nine hours," she said.

"Nine hours?" Sephiroth asked in disbelief.

Vincent looked at his watch and it read 10:30. They can claim it by 7:30 in the evening. "Okay," he told the girl as he handed her the paper with Tifa's sizes. 

The girl looked at it for a while and raised an eyebrow. "Oh-kay… I'll just bring this over there." she said before writing the receipt and handed it to Sephiroth. "You can pay for it at the other counter over there and they'll give you a claim stub." She instructed.

"Thank you, miss," Vincent said gratefully.

"I can't believe that Vice President ShinRa's getting hitched finally! Where did he meet her?" the girl asked in an excited look.

Reno, Vincent and Sephiroth didn't really have an idea on how to answer that question, so they left.

"Heheheh, I can't tell her that Rufus met his bride accidentally. Heheh…" Reno began.

"Don't start, Reno," Vincent warned.

Reno just shrugged as he snickered maliciously.

After paying and receiving the claim stub, they headed for the shoes department. "Damn, now we have to stay here in this mall for nine hours just because of that gown," Sephiroth muttered miserably.

"We can sit down somewhere in a coffee shop or watch movies in the cinema," Vincent suggested.

"Hey, there's this new movie showing today entitled '_Long and Hard_'. Can we watch it?" Reno asked excitedly.

Sephiroth and Vincent looked at Reno rather ridiculously. "Why don't you just watch it yourself? We'll just sit down in the coffee shop and wait for you." Vincent said.

"What kinda title is that? I wanna watch it!" Sephiroth told Reno with a rather thrilled look on his face, surprising Vincent.

"I dunno, but the movie is NC-17. Heheheh," Reno said.

Vincent just shook his head in disbelief as he began to scout for the right shoes for Tifa, thinking how perverted some of his friends are…"Do you know the size of her feet?" he asked.

Silence.

"I don't know," Sephiroth replied.

"She's your own cousin and you don't know?" Reno asked.

"I don't give a damn about others' feet, you know?" Sephiroth replied ridiculously.

"What do you think is her size?" Vincent asked, interrupting the argument.

"Maybe she's a 7 and a half," Reno replied.

"Or an 8." Sephiroth said.

"Or an 8 and a half…" Vincent said.

Silence again. They were not really sure.

With that, Vincent reached for his mobile phone and began to dial some numbers.

            Rufus jerked slightly when he heard his mobile phone ringing. He picked it up from the left side of his desk and looked at the caller I.D., his frown deepened and then he rejected the call.

            Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" Sephiroth asked.

"I guess he's doing his paperwork again," Vincent replied before dialing another number, but the Voicemail answered it, "This is Cloud. Can't answer." And then came a beep. Vincent just ended the call and sighed miserably. 

"Now what?" Reno asked.

Vincent tried to call Lucrecia and even Elena, but no one would answer. "Their mobile phones could be in silent mode and they couldn't feel it vibrating." He told his companions before placing his mobile phone inside his pocket again. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to guess her size…" he told them.

And they started their hunt for white strappy heeled sandals, white shoes and Sephiroth even insisted on white knee-high boots.

"Knee-high boots?!" Reno asked in disbelief.

"She'll look spunky and kick-ass. Rufus is going to love that." Sephiroth said with a wink.

"We have to choose the design first," Vincent told them.

"And hope that the right pair has her size," Reno chimed in.

"We're beginning to sound weird here," Sephiroth told them with a miserable look on his face.

"I know," Vincent replied before he turned to his right and saw a pair of strappy white heeled sandals. He supposed that the heels were three and a half inches high. "What's your cousin's height?" he asked Sephiroth.

"Around five feet four inches." Sephiroth replied as he flipped his hair, feeling a little impatient because of the fact that they're shopping for girly accessories and stuff, while they can just leave and do boys' stuff like play in the arcades, go buy their own clothes for the men's department or watch a movie, hang out somewhere in the mall where all the girls are passing by and try to catch their attention… but no, they are stuck in the ladies' department of the department store scouting for clothes, shoes, jewelry and other accessories for Rufus's bride-to-be.

"Chill out, Vinny, if Tifa wears that, she still wouldn't look taller than Rufus… but taller than Cloud. Heheh," Reno remarked with a silly look on his face.

"I know… Rufus is almost as tall as I am." Vincent replied as he picked up the pair and scanned it carefully. "Say, Seph, what kind of shoes does Tifa wear all the time anyway?" he asked.

"Those combat boots. Never seen her wear anything else." Sephiroth replied as he sat down on the seats reserved for customers who would be fitting their shoes.

"You mean you haven't seen her wear slippers or sandals or anything else besides those big boots of hers?" Vincent asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, yes." Sephiroth replied.

Vincent thought for a while. "We're really going to have a hard time here…" he muttered miserably.

"This is really going to be hard for us, you know? I mean, we're not girls, we're guys! We're not even Tifa's boyfriends!" Reno protested in annoyance, sitting down beside Sephiroth.

"And your point is?" Vincent asked, trying to be patient.

"My point is, we don't know her or her sizes. We're not even sure if she'd like the style that we would be choosing for her! Why must we choose the ones that Rufus would like? Why not base it on her opinion instead?" Reno asked, raising his voice.

"I know… I also thought of it, but what can we do? Rufus is _our_ boss, even though he's our friend too. And it's like he has a new toy named Tifa Lockheart and here we are buying clothes, shoes and jewelry for his new toy so that everyone would bow down before them and worship them as the most beautiful couple in Midgar." Sephiroth pointed out before leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees with a frustrated look on his face. "And they're supposed to be the ones shopping together." He said.

Vincent just looked at them with a blank look on his face. "Well… what are we supposed to do? Tell that to his face?" he asked.

Silence.

"Even Cloud cannot ward him off." Vincent continued.

"Hey, guys! Whatcha doin' here?"

The three were surprised to see Yuffie and Marlene approaching them.

"Hey, hey, hey! Nice of you to drop by, Yuffie!" Reno said, getting up immediately and approaching the two, dragging them to Vincent and Sephiroth. 

"What's up?" Yuffie asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"The ceiling," Sephiroth kidded.

Yuffie made a face. "Ha Ha, very funny!" she said sarcastically. "Anyway, as I was saying…" she began again.

"We're buying Tifa her wedding blah-blahs." Sephiroth replied with an annoyed look on his face.

Yuffie looked around. "Really? But where's Tifa?" she asked.

"Sick. You must've heard it by now if Aerith told you," Sephiroth replied.

"Yeah, we did. So Barret told me to take Marlene here so that she could buy new white shoes. She's the flower girl; I'm one of the bridesmaids together with Lucrecia and Elena," Yuffie replied with a happy smile on her face.

"So Rufus already sent out the invitations, huh?" Sephiroth muttered, leaning back on the seat. "Well, now that we have a girl here in our presence, maybe she could help us determine Tifa's sizes especially for the lingerie part later on." He said with a silly smile on his face.

Yuffie's eyes widened. "OH MY GAWD!? Did you say lingerie?!" she demanded in awe.

Marlene tugged at Vincent's pants. "Mister Vinny, what is lingerie?" she asked with an innocent tone.

Vincent did not really know how to answer the question. "Well… you could ask your daddy once you get home because I also do not know the answer, Marlene," he said gently.

"Yeah, right… you just gave Lucrecia new red lingerie last Christmas, don't you remember?" Sephiroth mocked.

Vincent glared at him. "Shut up, Sephiroth," he muttered.

"So it's your day-off?" Yuffie asked the three.

"Yep. That's why Vincent and I are not wearing our Turk uniforms and Sephiroth's not wearing his usual leather attire that already stinks coz he seldom washes it because it's leather. Heheh," Reno explained.

"Just tell me if you want to die, my Masamune is deposited in the baggage counter and I can just claim it from there," Sephiroth told him airily.

"Touché," Reno said with a suave look on his face before turning back to Yuffie. "So, do you know the size of Tifa's feet?" he asked.

Yuffie raised her eyebrow. "Well… I think she's the same size as Aerith…" she replied.

"Oh good, do you know Aerith's?" Vincent asked.

Yuffie thought for a while. "Nah. Don't know… but many a times before, they'd be exchanging shoes." She replied.

"Oh man! This is horrible!" Sephiroth said as he clenched his fists. 

Marlene sat down beside him, but he stood up and carried her up on his shoulder. She giggled happily. "Whee! Mister Sephy!!!" she cheered happily.

Sephiroth chuckled lightly. "Want some ice cream? Sephy's gonna buy you some ice cream!" he said before he left with Marlene.

"That's his way of saying that he doesn't want to join us anymore. But he'll be back. He just needs to cool off," Vincent explained to Yuffie.

"Could tell he's really annoyed at this situation. Anyway, judging by the look of Tifa and Aerith's feet, I think they're both size eight." She explained.

"So we'll pick a size 8?" Vincent asked, turning to the salesgirl. "A size 8 please," he said.

"Yes, sir," the salesgirl took the shoes and went off the stock room.

"How much is that anyway?" Yuffie asked.

"I checked the tag moments ago and it's around 5,000 Gil." Vincent replied.

"Pretty cheap. Maybe you'd better buy the shoes that are worth 10,000 Gil up." Reno said jokingly.

"Very funny. As if Rufus is the one who's gonna wear it." Vincent muttered as he rolled his eyes.

After paying for the shoes, they headed for the section where all sorts of women's undergarments are found.

"Hey, Reno, it's your favorite section," Vincent kidded, even though his face still looked serious. "Anyway, Rufus wants Tifa to wear red, white or black." He continued.

"Get more reds coz it's seductive," Reno pointed out.

"Do you guys even know her size?" Yuffie asked, feeling ridiculous.

Vincent stopped. "Where's the paper?" he asked Reno.

"I don't know, I thought it's with you," Reno replied with a snort.

"No, it isn't." Vincent replied.

"Don't tell me you lost it?" Reno asked glumly.

Vincent didn't answer anymore. He just turned away from him. "This is so embarrassing. Choose anything as long as it's red, white or black." He simply said.

Reno snickered before he went ahead of them.

Yuffie scratched her head. "What's with the paper that Reno's talking about?" she asked.

"The paper where the First Lady had written Tifa's measurements," Vincent replied miserably as he began to choose designs and colors.

"Don't you remember it?" Yuffie asked.

"From what I can remember, I think it's 36-26-36." He replied miserably.

"GAWD! 36?! As in 36 D or C?! GAWD!" Yuffie exclaimed in disbelief.

"Why?" Vincent asked.

Yuffie made a face. "Man, I feel small…" she whined miserably before turning away so that she could help them look for designs and colors.

After one hour and a half of searching, they gathered at the counter. "Here. I think Rufus is going to like everything here." Reno declared.

"What about Tifa? Will she like these?" Yuffie asked.

"Hopefully." Vincent replied before telling the cashier to charge it under Rufus ShinRa's account while showing his Turk I.D. so that the cashier person would not suspect anything suspicious about them.

"What time is it?" Yuffie asked.

"11:45." Vincent replied. He and Reno got the shopping bags and headed off for the clothes department again. "It's really going to be a long day…" Reno muttered miserably.

            Cloud and Rufus were about to have their lunch in the dining hall.

"What are we waiting for anyway?" Rufus asked.

"Aerith is getting Tifa. They're joining us for lunch." Cloud replied.

"What?" Rufus asked in disbelief.

"Anything wrong with that?" Cloud asked.

"Tifa is still unwell. Let her stay in her room and eat there with Elena." Rufus replied with a snobbish look on his face as he flipped his hair.

Cloud shook his head in disbelief. "Mom and dad told us to let Tifa join us." he said.

"Well they're not here so I'm in charge," Rufus said.

"Says who?" Cloud argued.

"Says me. I'm his Vice President." Rufus said simply.

"How come whenever mom and dad are here, you abide by their rules?" Cloud said airily.

"Shut up, Cloud." Rufus muttered impatiently. "Aren't you guys happy now that Rufus ShinRa is getting married tomorrow even though it is against his will?!" he continued with an angry look on his face.

"Well it isn't my fault that you did _that_ to Tifa," Cloud said with a nasty smile on his face.

"Shut up. I don't even love the girl! I don't even like her! She's just this girl from the slums who's the daughter of Old Man's dead general. I should've known our father's taste is bad!" Rufus said angrily.

They fell silent when they just heard some footsteps running away from the doorway and the sound seemed so far away already after a few seconds.

"Shit," Cloud thought as he turned to the doorway and saw Aerith standing there with a worried look on her face. She had her hands clasped together in prayer as she looked at Cloud with tear-stained eyes. Cloud got up from his seat and on his way to Aerith, he passed by Cloud's seat and whacked his head.

"Bloody hell, Cloud!" Rufus cried out in pain.

Cloud ignored his brother as he went to Aerith. "What happened?" he asked.

"T…Tifa heard everything what Rufus said about her… and she just ran off…" Aerith replied with a sad look on her face.

Cloud turned his angry gaze towards his younger brother, mocking him with his stare.

Rufus just sneered at him with a nasty look on his face. "I'll be eating now." He said mockingly before he got his spoon and fork and began to eat his dinner.

"I hope you choke," Cloud sneered back before turning to Aerith. "Can you check on Tifa? I'll deal with Cloud here," he told her with a whispery tone.

Aerith nodded nervously, but before she could go, Rufus snapped at them, "No one's going anywhere until dinner is over,"

Cloud marched over to Rufus and whacked his head with a table napkin. 

Rufus almost choked but he drank some water before he got up to face his older brother. Cloud did not let himself get intimidated by Rufus's height; he still stared back at him with an angry look. "Rufus, I think it's high time that you do something about your attitude problem," he pointed out.

"You're telling me…" Rufus said sarcastically with an airy look on his face.

"I'm serious, Rufus," Cloud said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, big bro… or rather, _small_ bro… HAH!" Rufus insulted, patting Cloud's head before flipping his own hair and moved away.

Cloud felt so enraged that he attacked Rufus, pushing him. "You really need to go back to kindergarten and relearn your manners!" he said.

"You too!" Rufus said, facing Cloud and pushing him back.

Aerith stiffened, knowing that the two really have bad tempers. She instantly ran to them and pulled Cloud away from Rufus. "Please, don't start a fight here!" she said with a concerned look on her face.

Rufus snorted at her. "Stay out of this, Aerith," he said snottily before getting his shotgun.

Cloud's eyes widened. "Rufus, you…" he began, but trailed off when Aerith stepped forward, pushed Rufus's shotgun away from her with her rod and slapped his face hard. She screeched at him, "You get a life first! Aren't you ashamed of yourself?! You just insulted my cousin but I won't let you insult me and Cloud! Let's see what Sephiroth's gonna do to you once he finds out that you insulted Tifa!" 

Rufus held his swollen cheek with an angry look on his face; but being the "gentleman" that he is, he just sneered at Aerith and left the dining area.

Upon exiting, he saw Sephiroth, Vincent and Reno walking towards him. "Hey, Rufus," Sephiroth greeted.

"What. Ever." Rufus said stiffly before walking past them.

The three stopped and followed Rufus with their gazes as he went to the elevators. 

"What's up with him?" Reno asked.

"Probably a bad day," Vincent said.

"Rufus," Sephiroth called out, going after him.

Rufus was about to press the "up" button but stopped before turning to Sephiroth. "What do you want?" he asked.

"We're done with the shopping and Tifa's stuff is in her room already… but we're not really sure of the size." Sephiroth began.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll take care of it. Dinner is served. I'm not hungry. You may join my perfect older brother and my goody-sweetie sister-in-law also known as your younger sister in the dining hall." Rufus said stiffly before pressing the "up" button. As soon as the elevator door opened, he stepped inside.

Sephiroth watched as the elevator door closed. "Damn this guy… when's he gonna change…" he muttered angrily before heading back to Vincent and Reno.

------------------------------------------------- 

blah… to be continued……..


	6. Costa del Sol

Loving A ShinRa

By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: Like I have mentioned in the first three chapters, I do not own anything but the story plot. Any resemblances to any other story plots are purely coincidental.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay; I was so busy in school… it's always a big hindrance, yet it's a necessary evil. -.-' 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

-Six: Costa del Sol-

            "OH MY GAWD!!! You look so pretty!!!" Yuffie Kisaragi exclaimed excitedly upon seeing Tifa come down from the white ShinRa limousine in front of the cathedral's main front doors.

Tifa had this cheerful smile on her face which actually perplexed everyone who saw her for the first time that day. "Heehee! Thank you, Yuffie," she said.

Her mother-in-law-to-be screeched in delight upon seeing her, jumping up and down and embracing her. "Oh, my dear, dear Tifa… I'm so happy to have you as a daughter-in-law! I can't wait until you and my Ruffy exchange wedding vows!" she said excitedly.

Tifa smiled happily at the First Lady. "I'm so excited, Mrs. ShinRa," she said happily.

Cloud, Sephiroth and Vincent exchanged confused glances before entering the Cathedral, going to Rufus who was standing by the altar just waiting for the ceremony to start.

"What time are we going to start anyway? I want to sleep," Rufus said snottily as he flipped his hair.

Cloud tried to hold back his temper as he spoke up, "Your bride is here. They'll start in a few moments." He stood beside Rufus for he's the best man.

Sephiroth, Reno and Vincent were the groomsmen.

The pipe organ began to play and it startled Rufus a little, turning his gaze to the aisle and watching Tifa walk as she was being escorted by President ShinRa and the First Lady. He had this perplexed look on his face, "Mom and dad's walking her down the aisle?!" he told Cloud in disbelief.

"I know that; I can see them. I'm not blind," Cloud muttered sarcastically.

Rufus just rolled his eyes before fully focusing his gaze on Tifa. He had to admit, she looked very beautiful, but he did not really care too much. "Hmf… after she gives birth to our first child, I'll kill her… no! I'll divorce her. Yeah, that's it…" he whispered to Cloud with a mean smile on his face.

Cloud just rolled his eyes.

Sephiroth heard it but just kept quiet.

Vincent pretended not to have heard anything.

Elena and Aerith, as two of the bridesmaids, watched Tifa with curious looks on their faces. "There's something strange about Tifa today," Elena said.

"I know… she's actually smiling…" Aerith said.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Of course Tifa is supposed to smile! Today's her wedding day!" Lucrecia argued.

"GAWD! Lucrecia, but she's supposed to be sulking!" Yuffie reasoned.

"What happened last night anyway?" Aerith asked, turning to Elena.

"I don't really know. Sir Rufus made me step out of her room when he got in." Elena replied with a weak smile on her face.

"How long did he stay inside?" Lucrecia asked.

"Up to I don't know how long coz I went downstairs to check on Tseng and Rude… but he did not even attend his Bachelor's Party with Reno and the others." Elena explained.

"You think they talked?" Aerith asked.

"Hopefully," Lucrecia replied with a hopeful look on her face…

_-FLASHBACK FROM LAST NIGHT-_

            Tifa turned to face Rufus as soon as Elena got out of the room. She had a sad look on her face.

He just stared at her for a while before speaking up, "Are we just going to stare at one another the whole night?" he asked.

She did not reply. She just bowed down her head. Rufus could see that her eyes were still damp with tears.

Annoyed, Rufus approached her and forced her to look at him. "Why can't you look at me?" he asked.

But Tifa had other ideas in her head. She instantly punched his stomach.

Surprisingly for Rufus, since he did not expect her to be _that_ strong, he was stunned at what she did. He had no time to defend himself; he just fell on his knees, trying hard not to cringe in pain, but his blue eyes were wide and were reflecting pain and agony from deep inside.

Tifa stared coldly at him. "Let me just warn you, Rufus ShinRa, I am not your doll that you can play with and yell at whenever you have nothing else to do." She kicked his stomach and then knelt down in front of him before punching him repeatedly. 

Okay, so she's really angry and she really snapped this time.

Poof.

Rufus got hold of her right fist, stopping her before she could hit his face. They stared at one another threateningly, but she still had this sweet smile at him. "So I'm just a girl from the slums, huh? And you're just planning to use me? Well then, if you don't want to die, don't you ever underestimate me, Mister ShinRa, because I'm not who you think I am!" she sneered angrily.

He chuckled lightly at what she said as his frown deepened and his evil smile widened. "You know, I think I'm beginning to like you more and more," he told her with a suave expression on his face.

Tifa slapped his face.

"…and more," Rufus mocked.

She was about to punch him some more, but before she could do so, he collapsed to the floor. She blinked in awe. "Whoops…" she thought in shock.

She listened quietly as she sat down beside Rufus who was already crouching in pain on the floor. She giggled as she laid down beside him with a sweet smile on her face before caressing Rufus's cheek that was red and swelling a little because of her slap. "You know, I think I'm also beginning to like you more and more," she told him.

He didn't know if it was sarcasm, but it caused him to smile at her and chuckle lightly before muttering an "Ow…"

With that, Tifa got up and helped him up. "C'mon," she said gently.

She guided him to the bed and helped him lay down. He sighed heavily. "I could tell that you hate me so much even from the start and all those angry emotions just erupted tonight that's why you had to beat me up. The question is, how come I let you beat me up like this while I could just get my shotgun and shoot your brains out to defend myself?" he asked her with a slight smile on his face.

She just smiled gently at him as she gently stroked his hair. "I'm sorry, Rufus," she said softly.

"I'm the one who should be saying that," he thought miserably as he narrowed his eyes on her before closing them.

Tifa just scanned his features as he kept his eyes closed. She blushed slightly as she decided to lie down beside him and rested her head on his chest.

She did not see the surprised expression on his face when he felt her head against his chest. He looked down at her but he could not see her face, just the top of her head.

She hesitated for a moment, but hoping that he wouldn't mind, she embraced him.

Rufus smiled slightly as he finally felt relaxed and fell asleep.

Weird.

-_end__ of flashback-_

            Tifa finally reached the altar and she stood beside Rufus, still with a sweet smile on her face. 

He just stared blankly at her. "What the hell is her problem?" he muttered. 

"Shut up," Cloud muttered.

Rufus and Tifa faced the bishop, but upon doing so, Tifa stomped on Rufus's foot with her heel, making him cringe a little in pain. He tried hard not to howl in pain.

Tifa smiled slyly. "I have to thank Vincent for choosing these shoes… the heel's really good!" she thought silently.

            The rest of the ceremony went on smoothly but Cloud, Sephiroth, Vincent, Lucrecia, Elena and Aerith were worried whether the two had meant their vows to one another or not.

"Maybe Tifa meant hers but I don't know about Rufus…" Cloud would tell himself with a disappointed look on his face.

After the wedding ceremony, they headed back to the ShinRa Building where they held the reception in its big ballroom.

Truly, for many of the citizens of Midgar, it was the most significant event of the year.

Rufus hardly talked to Tifa during the reception; he just stayed in his seat and drank too much wine, while Tifa stayed close to him. She could see the other girls, whom she does not even know, looking at her with envy. On the other hand, Rufus could see the other guys, some he could recognize as other eligible bachelors from the city, also looking at him with envy.

But the two just shut their mouths.

Around 6:00 pm, the reception was over and they all prepared the chopper for the two newly-weds.

Tifa was back in her own room and was surprised to see Elena and Lucrecia packing her stuff for her. "Wh…what are you doing?" she asked as she approached the two.

"Oh, don't mind us here, Teef. Just change your clothes and get all your other important valuables ready because you're going to Costa del Sol." Lucrecia said gently.

Tifa blinked. "Costa del Sol? Wh…what's… uhm… what am I going to do there? Is Rufus going to send me there while he stays here and do his business?" she asked with a rather panicky tone.

"Oh no, Tifa. Of course he's coming with you! It's your honeymoon, remember?" Lucrecia asked in disbelief before facing Tifa.

Tifa just stood there with a look of awe on her face. "Honeymoon?" she asked.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of a honeymoon before?" Lucrecia asked.

Tifa shook her head. "No… I mean… I know what a honeymoon is but… in Costa del Sol?! With Rufus?" she asked in shock.

Elena and Lucrecia exchanged confused glances. "Who else?" the latter asked.

"I mean… Just the two of us? Rufus and I?" Tifa asked with a trembling voice.

"What's the matter?" Elena asked with worry, noticing that Tifa suddenly became nervous.

"Yeah, you and Rufus… of course you have bodyguards… Vincent and Sephiroth. They have their own room far from yours." Lucrecia explained with a kind smile on her face.

"You're not coming along with us?" Tifa asked.

Lucrecia shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid not. I have to make sure that Aerith's health is fine." She said.

Tifa just kept quiet before proceeding to remove her headdress and her veil. She placed those on top of her bed and slowly walked to the bathroom.

Elena sighed heavily. "I wonder when Reno will propose to me…" she said dreamily.

Lucrecia just rolled her eyes, wanting to voice out loud that Reno isn't really exactly "husband-material", but she just shut up for her own sake.

Moments later, Tifa got out of the bathroom with her face cleared of make-up. She no longer had her wedding gown on, but she now wore her old attire: white sleeveless top, short dark brown skirt, thick belt, gloves, left elbow guard, black socks and her mahogany combat boots.

It shocked Elena and Lucrecia. "T…Tifa, why are you wearing that?" the latter asked in disbelief as she approached the perplexed girl.

"Wh…what's wrong with my clothes?" Tifa asked.

They were interrupted when the door burst open and there was the First Lady, "Is my dear Tifa ready?" she asked with cheerful look on her face.

Tifa turned to her mother-in-law and smiled kindly. "Yes, I am, _mother_." She replied.

The First Lady was delighted to hear Tifa call her _mother_. "Ohohohoho! I just love it when you call me that. You and Aerith simply resemble the daughters I never had. I'm so lucky to have the two of you as my daughters-in-law," she said gleefully as she approached Tifa and then embraced her.

Lucrecia and Elena were completely aware that the First Lady did not really notice Tifa's attire so they just kept quiet about it as they carried the luggage out of the room.

"Tifa's gonna be in big trouble when Rufus sees her…" Elena muttered to Lucrecia with a worried look on her face.

"I just hope that she can handle him…" Lucrecia muttered miserably.

            Tifa went to the chopper and hopped in rather ungracefully, startling Rufus who was already seated impatiently inside. His eyes widened at her when he realized what she was wearing. "What the hell are you wearing?" he asked.

Tifa blinked in awe. "My clothes," she replied.

"Are you serious?! You can't wear that!" he told her in disbelief.

"And why not?" Tifa asked as she sat down beside him.

"Because it's your usual attire!" he told her, not really wanting to be too frank with her because he just saw his mother approaching the chopper. What he really wanted to say to Tifa is, "Because you look like my whore, dammit!"

Unknown to him, Tifa could read it in his eyes. The more she got offended because of his silence; she wanted to smack him but she knew better. "Well what about your clothes? They're also your usual whites and black, you know?!" she snapped at him.

The First Lady heard what they were talking about and she instantly peeked inside the chopper and snapped at Rufus, "I don't see anything wrong with her clothes, son," she replied.

"Where's dad?" Rufus asked, wanting to change the subject.

"He's in Junon for another conference. Now, the two of you take care and you guys can call here anytime. When will you be back from there?" she asked.

"Probably after a month." Rufus replied.

"A month?" Tifa asked in disbelief. 

With that, the First Lady moved away to let Sephiroth and Vincent get inside. The moment the two sat down facing Tifa and Rufus, the door shut by itself. "Let's go," Vincent commanded the pilot.

With that, they took off.

Rufus had his arms crossed across his chest as he glared angrily past Sephiroth. Sephiroth and Vincent couldn't help but notice the tension between Tifa and Rufus, but they just kept quiet about it to avoid trouble during the flight.

But between Tifa and Rufus, the girl had more guts to say what's in her mind than the boy… so she went, "What happened between us last night has no significance on what I think about us, do you understand?"

Rufus stiffened. "You're the one who started it, so why blame me?" he asked.

"I'm not blaming you. I couldn't help it!" she snapped impatiently.

Vincent and Sephiroth just kept quiet in their seats, trying to pretend that they aren't shocked about the two… because they have different interpretations on what Tifa and Rufus were saying.

"Er… pardon me, but is that the reason why you didn't attend your Bachelor's Party last night is because you were with Tifa and actually slept with her?" Sephiroth asked with an inquiring stare at his friend.

"Yes, we did sleep together," Rufus replied.

"Shit, you did?!" Sephiroth asked in disbelief while Vincent's eyes just widened at them.

"Yeah, we did sleep together," Tifa replied.

Silence.

The newly-weds froze. "Uh-oh… I think they misinterpreted it…" Tifa thought silently.

"I…it's not what you think! When I said that we slept together, it means that we just _slept_. You know, _sleep_?! As in lying on the bed with your eyes closed, your mind not functioning like you're not conscious and you're just snoring????" Rufus emphasized.

Sephiroth snickered at them. "Yeah, right. You did that during the _aftermath_! Mwahaha!" he teased.

"No, we didn't!" Tifa said in defense.

"I'm shocked at you, Tifa. I'm simply shocked." Sephiroth told his cousin with a mocking stare.

She just kept quiet.

"Whatever…" Rufus muttered glumly before looking away.

Tifa sighed heavily as she just clasped her hands together on her lap and looked outside the window, admiring the early evening sky. She smiled gently upon seeing the moon and the stars. "It's so beautiful," she said out loud.

Vincent turned to the window and gazed outside too. "Indeed." He agreed.

Sephiroth couldn't help but look also, and he smiled. "Yeah." He said.

Rufus was unmoving for a few seconds until he finally decided to take a look at what's outside. He still had his usual poker-face as he said, "Disgusting,"

The three looked at him in disbelief.

"Who asked you?" Tifa asked airily.

Rufus stiffened. "Hmf." He just clenched his fists and didn't say anything more.

Five hours later, they finally arrived in Costa del Sol. They departed from Midgar at around 6:30 pm and it was already near midnight.

As soon as they got down from the chopper, the staff of the hotel welcomed them heartily, but upon seeing Tifa, they immediately changed their attitude.

Some of them began to whisper about her and her attire… even said that Rufus married her for her body.

She just shut up but wondered if Rufus would defend her from those "evil" people, but he didn't do anything. He just walked ahead of her going to the elevator. She rode up with him together with Vincent and Sephiroth.

"Are you guys going to have dinner?" Vincent asked.

"No. I'm not hungry. Just take Tifa to dinner," Rufus commanded.

"I'm not hungry," Tifa lied so that she wouldn't have to go with Vincent and her cousin Sephiroth. She would just like to stay with Rufus and avoid those people who are talking about her.

Sephiroth smirked at his cousin and nudged her. "Mwahahaha… I see… couldn't wait until your next _session_ with Rufus, huh?" he teased.

Tifa looked up at him with a look of disbelief on her face. "I should've known that hanging around with Reno could brainwash your gentlemanliness, Sephiroth." She pointed out with a sarcastic voice.

"Aw, c'mon, where's your sense of humor?" Sephiroth asked, feeling frustrated.

"We unfortunately left it in the altar this morning," Rufus said stiffly before stepping out of the elevator upon reaching the last floor of the hotel.

Tifa followed after him with her head bowed down.

"How long are you guys planning to stay here?" Vincent asked.

"One month." Rufus replied.

"One month?" Sephiroth asked.

"Did you guys agree on it?" Vincent asked.

"Rufus thought of it without consulting me first if it's okay with me to stay here for a month," Tifa said, wanting to mock Rufus.

"I think you should've consulted Tifa first. What if she gets bored?" Sephiroth suggested to Rufus.

"Shut up," Rufus snapped as they reached their room. Sephiroth opened the door for him with a frown on his face, but before Tifa could step inside, Rufus slammed the door shut, causing the door to hit her nose. "OW!" she cried out in pain before holding her bleeding nose.

She clenched her fists in anger before banging violently on the door. "OPEN THE DOOR, DAMN YOU!" she screeched.

"La la la la la… I can't hear you!" Rufus said sarcastically with a singsong voice from inside.

"Grrr…" Tifa growled before turning to Sephiroth. "Aren't you gonna do something?!" she wailed, surprised at her cousin's reaction. Isn't he supposed to be angry?

Sephiroth just stood there, his hands inside his trouser pockets. "He's your husband, Tifa. You handle him. We're just his friends," he told her simply before handing her the card key. Tifa grabbed the card key and slid it in the slot by the doorknob. The door clicked open and she instantly pushed it, marched inside and shut the door again. She saw Rufus standing by the bed without his white jackets. She was still holding her bleeding nose. "Look what you've done to me!" she told him angrily.

He just stared coldly at her. "That's for treating me like a punching bag last night, Miss Lockheart," he told her.

"That's _Mrs. ShinRa_ to you, and remember that, _honey_." She said mockingly with a sneer.

Rufus ignored her and just proceeded to remove his black turtleneck and placed it on top of the bed before heading to the bathroom.

Tifa blushed slightly when she realized that Rufus had taken off his top in front of her. She just modestly looked away and sat down on the bed while trying to stop herself from trembling. She felt so horrible and she felt like breaking down already, but would eventually stop herself because she knew she would appear like a loser and a weakling… those are the last things she'd want to be.

However, there were tears in her eyes. She sniffed. She had to admit, she is so afraid… afraid of the present and the future. It's like she opened a closet one morning and then all the problems came down to her, burying her alive. "I wish daddy was still here… if he didn't die, I wouldn't be marrying Rufus…" she thought sadly as she swallowed hard. The bleeding finally stopped but she noticed that she had bloodstains on her white top, on her hands and also some blood smeared across her face. 

She felt so alone… like she's with a complete stranger. She felt so homesick and she wanted to go home. She wanted to go back to Midgar and live in Sector 7 again… she wanted to see her friend Yuffie, talk to Elena and Lucrecia and hang out with them… and even play with Marlene, spend time with Aerith or maybe just live in her own house, taking care of her father and still running Seventh Heaven.

But no, she's in Costa del Sol with Rufus ShinRa, her husband. She felt so afraid… so used… but what can she do? ShinRa is a very powerful family and not even Cloud, Sephiroth or Aerith could help her get out of her current mess that she's in.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a nasty "What the hell are you crying about?"

That's when she realized that she was already crying. She immediately wiped her tears away and bowed down her head so that Rufus wouldn't see how pitiful she looks.

But Rufus went to her and lifted up her face by holding her chin with his index finger and thumb, scanned the look on her face and felt his heart sinking, but he still maintained his usual poker face.

Tifa gazed up at him as more tears fell from her eyes. "I… I'm afraid," she told him.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Of what?" he asked coldly.

She got up and embraced him, surprising him. His gaze traveled to the floor and he felt somewhat uncomfortable. "She's afraid of me," he thought silently.

He remembered the time when he encountered her in Nibelheim, standing by the well. He had a friendly approach to her… so how come at present, why is he _abusing_ her?

And last night, after she got back at him for what he had said and done to her, she even took the opportunity to make sure that she did not severely injure him and he could even recall clearly that she even embraced him as they slept in each other's arms.

Tifa also had the same thoughts in her head. "Why do I fear him so much and yet I still have the guts to… to do this?" she thought silently as she leaned her head against his chest with a sad smile on her face. She suddenly felt so guilty. She did not really want to become angry with him but she had no choice… he's making her… but somehow, at her current situation, she doesn't have the capacity to become angry anymore.

"Tifa," she was interrupted when she heard him say her name in a rather inquiring manner.

She looked up at him. "Hmm?" she responded wearily.

He had a serious look on his face but he spoke up rather nervously, "Uhm… are you afraid of me?" he asked.

"Wh…why should I even be afraid of you?" she asked nervously.

He gently caressed her cheek. "Don't worry… I won't hurt you." He told her.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising when his skin touched hers. Her eyes slightly widened upon hearing that. "Uh-oh…" she thought silently. "Wh…why? Wh…what are you going to do?" she asked with a fake smile on her face.

His hands traveled to her arms and he squeezed them gently. "Oh you know…" he told her.

"Wh… wha… wha… what?!" she asked in awe.

But his grip on her tightened and it caused her to squeal a little. "R…Rufus, you said you wouldn't hurt me but…" she began nervously.

"I know… but if I find out tonight that you're not a virgin anymore, I'm gonna have to kill the man who first had you; is that understood?" he asked with a threatening look on his face.

Tifa fell silent.

"C'mon, if I've had some _experience_ before, I wouldn't be nervous like this…" she reasoned with a calm look on her face.

Rufus just smiled at her. "We'll see, Tifa dearest." He told her before pushing her down on the bed, surprising her because of his unexpected action, causing her to scream for a short time.

Outside, the two were unaware that Vincent and Sephiroth were still standing before the door and listening to them.

Vincent had a ridiculous look on his face. "Sephiroth, I think we should really leave them alone." He said with a slight blush on his face.

"Why?" Sephiroth asked with a rather irritated look on his face.

Vincent was silent for a while, not knowing how to put his thoughts into words, so he just replied, "She just screamed."

Sephiroth smirked at him. "Yeah, that's the main idea, you know." he said with malicious grin.

"Oh well, at least I should be thankful that Reno's not the one with me or else he's gonna be recording everything or something else." Vincent muttered.

"Why?" Sephiroth asked, turning to face him.

"You see, Reno's also a Turk just like me, right? One time, the President asked us to spy on some corrupt senator. That senator gave out a lot of signs of corruption, making all the evidence true against him… until he went to the Honeybee Inn and Reno, Tseng, Rude, Elena and I had to follow him all the way there." Vincent explained with a rather uncomfortable look on his face.

"Gee… maybe I should apply as a Turk. Mwahahahahaha," he joked.

"Nah, just stick to being a First Class Soldier if you don't like crawling into dirty vents and assassinating big fat men who are corrupt." Vincent suggested.

"You seem to be forgetting that I also did some assassinating myself before." Sephiroth said.

"Oh great! We could use you to assassinate Hojo!" Vincent said with a gleeful tone even though his face looked serious.

The two were silent for a while before they began snickering together. "Man, I think everyone in ShinRa hates that old geezer… maybe everyone except the President because he's not aware of Hojo's _crimes_." Sephiroth muttered.

They were interrupted when they heard some people approaching from behind them.

Vincent turned around to look and he smiled slightly. "Oh, here are my other colleagues." He said.

Elena, Tseng, Rude and Reno.

"What are they doing here?" Sephiroth asked.

"Orders from Sir Cloud." Tseng replied.

"Does Rufus know about this?" Sephiroth asked with a perplexed look on his face.

"No. It's supposed to be a secret. Our newly-weds knows that it's only the two of us who'll be guarding them. Cloud insisted that the other Turks come along for Tifa's safety," Vincent replied.

"Tifa's safety?" Sephiroth asked in disbelief.

"Oh you know how Rufus is, so stop asking questions," Vincent muttered miserably.

Sephiroth couldn't get the point so he just kept quiet.

"What's going on now?" Reno asked, searching for keyholes.

Elena knew what he was trying to do, so she just pushed him away from the door. "Stay away from the door, Reno." She said.

"I think we should just go to our own rooms and leave them alone." Tseng suggested.

"Wait a second… what if Rufus finds out that you Turks are here?" Sephiroth asked.

"Are you even aware of our costumes?" Reno asked.

Sephiroth stared unbelievably at Tseng and Rude who were wearing hula shirts, denim shorts and slippers; and at Reno and Elena who're wearing rather formal clothes… "Gee, doesn't suit Reno." Sephiroth remarked.

"Shut up," Reno snapped impatiently.

"Cloud already reserved three suites for us. Rude and I will be roommates right across Ma'am Tifa and Sir Rufus's suite… Elena and Reno are roommates and they'll be in the suite to the right of the newly-weds' suite… while you and Vincent will be in the room to the left of this room." Tseng explained while looking at a clipboard.

"What's with the clipboard?" Sephiroth asked.

"Just keeping things organized." Tseng replied with a slight smile on his face.

They all jerked when they heard Tifa scream again, "Rufus, don't do that!"

Silence.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Reno cheered.

"I think we should leave," Vincent suggested.

Rude's whole head was as red as a tomato before finally deciding to go to his room with Tseng who had a stifled malicious smile on his face.

"Let's go, Reno," Elena said, pulling Reno with her.

Sephiroth watched Reno and Elena and spoke up, "Hey, don't go making babies just like these two over here, ya hear?"

Elena felt rather insulted by his remark so she just pushed Reno away from her and rushed inside their own suite, shutting the door before Reno could get in.

"Looks like Reno's gonna have to stay with Tseng and Rude," Sephiroth said.

Reno rolled his eyes as he muttered curses before knocking on the door of Tseng and Rude's suite. 

With that, Sephiroth and Vincent headed towards their own suite.

            Back inside Rufus and Tifa's suite, well… what were you thinking?

No, they're not really doing anything. They're just seated on the bed and watching a horror movie. Rufus just decided to scare Tifa by creeping his hand up behind her back up to her shoulder and she screamed, "Rufus, don't do that!" because it's making her feel more afraid of the film.

"You know, Tifa, maybe we should've just watched the movie wherein there's a videotape that kills you in seven days." Rufus told her.

"No." she replied stiffly, her hands crossed across her chest.

"Or the movie with cockroaches swarming around this person and enters his body and…" he began.

"NO!" she snapped.

"Or maybe the movie with poltergeists inside a suite like this one?" he suggested with a mean look on his face.

"No." she replied with a voice that seemed to falter.

"Or the movie wherein there's a website that kills you in 48 hours!" he said.

"No." she said stiffly.

"Or the movie about clowns that murder you." He said.

"No." she replied stiffly again.

"Why, you hate clowns? Do clowns scare you?" he asked, making a funny face as he turned his head to face her and leaned forward; closer and closer to her face meaning to scare her.

She twitched and turned her head away from him. "Please, stop it," she pleaded rather pathetically. She couldn't believe that Rufus ShinRa isn't acting like himself… he's acting rather funny. "Oh well… he drank too much during the reception… maybe it's taking effect now," she reminded herself silently. 

He stopped moving, his face already an inch away from hers that was turned away. "Hey, Tifa," he began softly.

She did not reply. She was thinking, "Oh dad, why did you have to die?!" and then she remembered her other motive on why she did not protest too much upon marrying Rufus: to find out who killed her father. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Rufus tell her rather gently, as if it were a plea, "Please look at me,"

The moment she turned her head to face him, she felt that her life had completely changed. She just smiled softly as she closed her eyes as she surrendered herself to his kiss.

            Tifa opened her eyes to the sound of birds chirping outside. From the sound of those birds, she realized that it was already morning. She slowly turned her gaze to the grandfather's clock by the window and saw that it was already 9 am. She lazily turned her gaze to the other side of the bed, hoping to see Rufus still asleep, but to her surprise, he wasn't there anymore. She remained on the bed and just decided to go under the blankets when she heard Sephiroth's voice call for her name, "Tifa?"

She did not answer. She hoped that he would just go away.

Sephiroth frowned upon seeing that Tifa hiding under the blankets. "Hey, rise and shine, Mrs. ShinRa. Mr. ShinRa is looking for you in the breakfast lounge downstairs." He said, approaching her. He attempted to pull off her blanket but she held on tightly to it. "Sephiroth, stop pulling on the blanket if you don't wanna get blinded by what you'll see." She warned with a nervous and rather embarrassed tone.

Sephiroth thought for a while and then let go of the blanket with a playful grin on his face. "Hmm… How come, cousin dear? Did Rufus give you a lot of bite marks and hickeys from last night?" he kidded.

"No, Sephiroth. And could you please go to the bathroom and get me my robe?" she asked with a voice that almost sounded like a plea.

He nodded while rolling his eyes and whistling with a teasing smile on his face before moving away from her. "Okay… I get the idea on why you're hiding there… or would you rather that I leave this room right now to avoid further embarrassment?" he asked.

Tifa thought for a while before answering. "Just go back to Rufus and tell him that I am not hungry." She said.

"I don't think your husband will allow that," he told her.

"Why not? I'm a ShinRa now and that means I can do whatever I want. Isn't that one of the basic family rules?" she snapped.

Sephiroth raised his eyebrow at her. "Whoa… ShinRa must really be good in corrupting the minds of its members. You already sound like your husband, cousin dear," he remarked.

"Yeah. Whatever. Just go." She said rather snottily. She is really not in the mood to argue with her cousin or with any other person because of the fact that she still didn't feel like moving around: in other words, she's just too lazy to do anything else.

Sephiroth just shrugged and left her.

After five more minutes, Tifa finally decided to get out of bed. She wrapped the blanket around her body and walked slowly to the bathroom to grab her robe. 

Upon doing so, she heard Rufus's voice calling her, "Tifa,"

She instantly hid inside the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it.

Rufus stopped in his tracks, staring at the bathroom door with a stiff look on his face. He was wearing his usual black long-sleeved turtleneck and white pants. Judging from the look on his face, he felt rather uncomfortable with it… obviously, Costa del Sol is like a tropical country, so expect warm weather.

Luckily for him, their suite is air-conditioned and so he wouldn't have to worry about the warm weather outside. He just decided to sit down on the couch and watch the Stock Market channel and some news.

Moments later, Tifa got out of the bathroom wearing a red one-piece swimsuit. Rufus's eyes really widened upon seeing her wearing _that_ swimsuit. "T…T…Ti…T…" he tried to say her name, wanting to tell her that she shouldn't really go out in the open looking like that.

"It's already a one-piece swimsuit, Rufus, not a two-piece bikini." She told him as if getting what he was trying to say.

He mentally slapped himself before he got up. "At least put on a bathrobe!" he scolded.

"Well what do you call this?" Tifa asked, showing him the thick bathrobe that she was holding with her right hand and then putting it on.

Rufus fell silent before raking his fingers through his hair. "Where are you going?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Swimming. There's a beach resort within this hotel. I'm going there." She said.

"Alone?" he asked.

"Yeah." She replied.

Rufus was silent for a few seconds, thinking of what to say next. He wanted to come along with her and "shield" her from the prying eyes of maniac men who would be looking at her body. That's that last thing he'd want to happen… But his pride was dominating, "Just make sure that Sephiroth and Vincent are with you," he told her simply as he flipped his hair before sitting down again, pretending to just watch the TV.

She just stared at him blankly as she bit her lower lip, a little disappointed at the fact that Rufus doesn't want to join her. She was actually looking forward to some "bonding" with her husband. But since she's determined to win his heart, she just asked a question upon thinking that asking questions wouldn't hurt if you are confused, "Don't you want to come with me?"

"What for?" Rufus asked coldly.

She smiled sweetly at him. "The sun's lovely today and the water looks fine from here… you could change into your swimming trunks now; I'll wait for you here." She said rather cheerfully.

"Nah. It's too hot to go outside." He said glumly.

"The weather would actually feel fine around you if you take off that long-sleeved turtleneck of yours." She told him sternly.

"What do you know about wearing turtlenecks while you're always wearing that… that white sleeveless top of yours with that mini skirt?!" he snapped impatiently.

"At least I feel cooler even when I'm outside!" she snapped.

"Aha, so now you have the right to answer to me like that?" he demanded with a challenging tone and a sly smile on his face before he got up, clenched his right fist and punched lightly his left palm; his action indicating that he could just punch her face anytime he wishes to.

"Yes, I do, Rufus darling." She said with a sarcastic grin before imitating his action.

Okay, Rufus, wrong move to challenge Tifa into a fist fight. Knowing that she could just punch him and he couldn't shoot her brains out because everyone would get mad at him and would never forgive him and could cost him his heirloom, he just turned away from her and sat down again. "Just go," he said, his voice reflecting defeat.

Tifa was silent for a while before turning away from him. "I'll… see you for lunch." She told him softly before she started to walk to the door.

"Won't be having lunch. Brought some paperwork with me and I have to finish them." He told her coldly.

She sort of felt disappointed as she stopped walking and clenched her fists before turning back to Rufus with a bitter smile on her face. She ran back to him, bent down and gave him a kiss. "I love you," she told him with a voice that seemed to falter before she ran back to the door and got out in an instant, leaving Rufus with a stunned expression on his face.

His conscience was already nagging him, "Shame on you, Rufus! The least you could do is to be nice to her!" he mentally smacked himself and just proceeded to watch TV, even though his thoughts were completely bothered by Tifa and Tifa alone.

Duh.

Whatever.

            Only two weeks in Costa del Sol really did not fail to bore Tifa. She would usually start her day by swimming in the ocean, then lunch, and then touring around or go shopping in the local shops, then have some tea, and then sit in the balcony with her cousin Sephiroth while Vincent attended to Rufus, and then those two "bodyguards" would accompany Tifa again to the seashore and watch the sunset and when evening comes, she would have dinner with the two of them and then head back to the suite alone and take a bath, get dressed in her nightwear and head for the balcony and do some stargazing before proceeding back inside again and watch some Spanish soap operas on TV and then sleep.

Where the hell is Rufus, you might be asking?

He's just drowning himself in paperwork.

Tifa had already referred to Sephiroth and Vincent as her "best friends" in a joking manner once in front of Rufus because they were always the ones with her.

On the third week, she was already beginning to snap.

"Relax, Teef. Only a week more to go before we go back to Midgar." Sephiroth told her during dinner on Wednesday of the third week.

"Hmf… it looks like you and Vincent are the only ones enjoying the stay here in Costa del Sol." Tifa muttered miserably.

"Not really. Sephiroth snores a lot at night so I really do not get enough sleep. I'd rather have my own room and my own bed in Midgar." Vincent remarked.

Tifa blinked. "You mean you both sleep on the same bed?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, because Cloud reserved a honeymoon suite for me and Sephiroth." Vincent replied miserably.

Sephiroth laughed at Vincent, hoping that Tifa would also laugh at them, but she did not, so he just shut up. He cleared his throat before turning his gaze to the table next to theirs where Tseng and Rude are seated and eating their dinner, then turned to Reno and Elena who were seated at the next table to their right.

Tifa noticed the four "strangers" and frowned slightly. "I've been noticing that ever since after my first night here, I've been seeing those people around… even when I'm at the beach or doing my shopping," she whispered to Vincent and Sephiroth with a suspicious look on her face.

"Maybe it's just coincidence." Sephiroth suggested with a wink.

Tifa studied the four: all were wearing dark sunglasses. "Why even wear sunglasses at night?" she asked Vincent.

"Maybe they have sore eyes." He replied.

Tifa sighed heavily and just ignored the four and proceeded to take a few more bites of her lamb chops and then pushed her plate slightly away from herself. "I'm not hungry anymore," she said.

Sephiroth and Vincent studied the food on her plate. "You didn't eat breakfast and lunch… did not finish your tea and cookies this afternoon and now you are not even halfway through your meal." Sephiroth pointed out.

"I don't really feel like eating." Tifa replied lazily before leaning back on her seat. "Just continue to eat. I'll just wait for you guys right here," she said with a calm smile on her face.

"You haven't been eating right for the past few days," Vincent pointed out. 

"I don't really notice because I really do not feel so hungry nowadays," she replied with a rather miserable look on her face.

Sephiroth thought for a while before speaking up, "I want you to be honest with me and Vinny here… is everything alright between you and Rufus?" he asked.

She just stared blankly at her cousin as she nodded her head, though her eyes revealed some inner conflicts.

"So, how do you find Rufus?" Vincent asked.

"He's… okay. Really. He is just a little… stiff. I always see to it that I talk to him about how my day was even though he doesn't like to really talk about his day… and even if I don't get replies from him, I still talk until he turns away. So I just shut up." She explained with a weak smile on her face.

"Isn't that being rude?" Sephiroth asked with a frown on his face.

"I don't consider it that way. Really." Tifa told them.

The two fell silent as they stared unbelievably at Tifa. "You don't?" Sephiroth asked.

"Please don't hurt him," Tifa pleaded, getting a clue on what Sephiroth was thinking.

"Can't change the fact that Rufus is still the Rufus that we know: spoiled, stubborn and uncaring." Vincent told Sephiroth.

Sephiroth pounded on the table, "Tifa, why are you letting that brat bully you?!" he demanded.

"He's not bullying me, Sephiroth." She said with a surprised look on her face.

"Dammit, stop defending him!" he snapped at her.

"Well what do you care? You are not me! Why don't we switch places so that you'll find out how… how nice Rufus is despite the fact that he ignores me and all?" she told him with a challenging look on her face.

"How could you say that?!" Sephiroth asked with a look of disbelief.

She simply smiled at them before she got up and excused herself. 

As she continued to walk going to the elevators, Sephiroth's question rang into her head, even as she got inside her suite. She saw Rufus in the balcony, gazing up at the stars. "…because I already love him," she said softly in a voice audible enough for only herself to hear.

With that, she approached Rufus and embraced him from behind. "Hello, darling," she greeted as she closed her eyes and leaned her head against his back.

Rufus just stiffened as he kept his gaze up at the stars.

She opened her eyes but kept her gaze on the floor: "I had fun watching the sunset today. It was so beautiful. Did you see it?" she asked.

He was just silent.

She proceeded to speak, "Have you eaten your dinner already?"

No answer.

"You should eat well even if you're working. It can give you enough energy to keep you going all throughout the day so that you can finish every single work that you have." She told him.

He just snorted.

"If you want, once we return to Midgar, I can cook you some food which I'm sure you'll like… Sephiroth told me that you like seafood. It's actually one of my specialties. Do you like stuffed crab?" she asked with an encouraging tone.

He was just silent but he was thinking silently. His friends, his sister-in-law and even his own brother once told him that Tifa is a great cook.

She let go of him and stepped forward to his left side and looked up at him with a gentle smile on her face. "I passed by the pastry store this afternoon and bought you some brownies. I placed them by our bed. Did you see them?" she asked eagerly.

Brownies. He loves brownies. But he's simply too stubborn. "Brownies are too sweet for me. Threw them away." He told her snobbishly before flipping his hair and looked away from her.

She felt as if someone just shot her heart. "What is his problem? I try to get close to him but he's the one moving away?!" she thought silently with a sad look on her face, trying to stop her emotions from bursting so that she could avoid crying or throwing him off the balcony.

Her own conscience began to nag her: "You should've just killed yourself than risked getting married to this guy! Now look who's suffering! HAH!"

Tifa just swallowed hard and still smiled at Rufus despite the pain. She reached for his hand and squeezed it gently before standing on tiptoe to give him a kiss on his cheek. 

He still maintained his usual poker-face expression.

With that, she started to go back inside their room, but she halted when she realized that the brownies are still on the bedside table. She blinked in perplexity. She continued her way inside, but halted again when Rufus called her name, "Tifa,"

She turned back to him but he still had his back to her.

"Yes?" she asked rather timidly.

"You want some dessert?" he asked.

She blinked, her eyes widening in wonder. "Wh…what?" she asked.

"We can eat those now. I was wondering if you'd like some too, so I just left it there." He said rather stiffly.

She suddenly felt annoyed. "Is he testing me or what?!" she thought in annoyance. She clenched her fists with a hurtful expression in her eyes before heading to the bathroom and said with a trembling voice, "No, thank you. Eat them yourself." And she slammed the door shut and bolted it.

            "When are you coming back here?" Cloud asked his mother.

The First Lady stopped in her tracks before she boarded the helicopter. "We'll be back tomorrow. Me and your father." She explained.

"Why does he want you to go there anyway?" Cloud asked.

"You sound like you don't want me to go?" she asked, facing her son.

Cloud just smiled slightly. "Not really. But it means that I'll be in charge here," he said.

"You don't like being in charge especially if it's a large company like ours, but since you're a ShinRa, you have to learn." She said gently before patting his head.

"Not really a ShinRa. I changed my surname to _Strife_, remember?" he asked with a wink.

The First Lady chuckled lightly before she touched her son's right cheek. "What ever surname you may have, you are still my son… and I love you just the way you are." She said lovingly.

Cloud smiled and gave his mother a kiss on her cheek. "Take care, mom." He said.

"You too. Take care of Aerith, you hear? I want my future grand child to be safe, and it should start with his or her mother, Aerith, okay, Cloud?" she asked with a wink.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Cloud muttered, his facial expression changing before he took steps away from the chopper. 

After the chopper had taken off, Cloud proceeded back inside the ShinRa Building, with Dark Nation trailing behind him. The big panther-like animal was whimpering as she followed Cloud towards the elevators.

Cloud looked at it with a slight frown on his face. "Your master is in Costa del Sol. Go bother someone else." He said.

"Meowrr," Dark Nation snarled at him before nipping his leg, making him stop walking. "ARGH! Stop that, Dark Nation!" he said.

Dark Nation continued to play with Cloud's pants, pulling it while snarling.

"Okay, okay, you can sleep in our room, as long as you and Red XIII will stay on the floor." Cloud said finally.

Dark Nation let go of his pants and meowed happily before following him again.

From afar, Hojo stood by a tall post just watching the two as they boarded the elevator. "Got to get my hands on Aerith. I want to see the effects of my new experiment on an unborn child… she is going to be perfect for this. Hahahahaha." He mumbled to himself before turning away and headed for the stairs. "But first, I have to get rid of all the hindrances from my plans. President ShinRa did not allow me to have new specimens for my experiment… hahahahaha. We'll see who's wrong. If the child is born with the Mako in his or her bloodstream, he or she is going to be the best thing that's ever happened to ShinRa." He thought with a nasty smile on his face before he ascended the steps.

*** 

            It was nine in the morning when Cloud received a phone call from his mother that she and his father are already in the chopper for the trip back to Midgar and they would be arriving in an hour.

"Okay, I'll alert the others now so that they could welcome you." Cloud said before proceeding to the Executives' Lounge to tell Reeve and the others.

Five hours later, the chopper was not yet there.

Cloud was beginning to worry.

"Maybe they decided to stop in one place first and have lunch or something," Aerith suggested.

"Nah. I don't think mom and dad are like that… they'd usually go straight here and have lunch here." Cloud replied with a worried look on his face.

Evening came and the President and the First Lady still hasn't arrived. Cloud tried to contact them through their mobile phones but there would always seem to be an error in connection. 

At around eleven in the evening, Cloud received a call from one of the sergeants in Junon.

"May I please speak with Mister Cloud ShinRa Strife?"

"Yes, it's me. Who's this?" Cloud asked.

"Sergeant Reed from Junon, sir. Please do not be surprised… I have… bad news for you."

Cloud was silent for a while before he proceeded, "What is it?" …

            Rufus jerked upright upon hearing his mobile phone ringing. 

The sound had also awakened Tifa and she sat up with a sleepy look on her face. "Wh…what's going on?" she asked Rufus as she glanced at the clock and it read 1:00 am.

Rufus realized that his mobile phone was on the bedside table next to Tifa's division of the bed. "Could you answer it for me?" he asked lazily before plopping down again on the bed and opened the lamp light on his side.

Tifa got his mobile phone and checked the caller I.D. first. "Cloud," she whispered with a slight frown before answering the call. "Yes?"

"Rufus?" Cloud asked; his voice sounded worried.

"No, it's Tifa." She replied.

"Oh… Tifa… where's Rufus?" he asked.

Rufus just closed his eyes and ignored her when she looked at him. 

She rolled her eyes before saying, "He's asleep so I answered your call. Is anything wrong?" she asked.

Cloud was silent for a while, thinking of what to say. "T…Tifa, could you and Rufus come back here now? This is really important… we need you guys here." He said.

Rufus opened his eyes again, sensing that something is wrong. He instantly sat up and grabbed the phone from Tifa's grasp and answered it, "Why, what's going on?" he asked his older brother.

"Rufus?" Cloud asked again.

"Yeah." Rufus grumbled.

"You and Tifa should come back here… now. It's an emergency. You have to be here… it's regarding mom and dad." Cloud said.

"Why, what happened to them?" Rufus asked.

"I'll just tell you when you arrive here." Cloud replied seriously.

"I won't go back there unless you tell me the reason." Rufus argued.

"Rufus, for once, can't you just listen to me?" Cloud asked with an annoyed tone.

"Because knowing you, you're saying it's important but when I come there, it is not!" Rufus snapped.

"Will you stop with that shit for now, Rufus? Our parents are dead!" Cloud yelled angrily.

Tifa's eyes widened upon hearing that.

Rufus froze and his eyes widened.

Realizing that Rufus has lost his words, Cloud proceeded to speak, "There, ya happy now? I already told you the reason on why you should return here now! Now please, brother dear, can't you just follow your good older brother and just come back here?"

Rufus's frown deepened, his eyes filling with tears but he turned away from Tifa so that she wouldn't see his eyes. "H…how… when did this happen?" he asked, his voice faltering.

"Just today. The sergeant from Junon called up… mom and dad were on their way back here this morning and their chopper exploded in midair, five minutes after they took off from Junon." Cloud explained with a stiff tone.

Rufus did not say anything more. He just hung up and got up from bed. "Pack up your things, Tifa. We're going back to Midgar." He said with a hard tone before proceeding to the bathroom.

------------------------------------------------ 

To. Be. Continued. Blah.


	7. Things Are Getting Better Or Worse

Loving A ShinRa

By: General Quistis 

Disclaimer: you all know what I'm gonna say here, right? I don't have to repeat it again and again since it's already in the first six chapters of this horrible fic.

Author's notes: My Public Speaking instructor said that writer's block is caused by lack of information… but I swear, I don't have writer's block. I'm just having a hard time organizing the events in chronological order so that it would not be confusing. Kyah… ;_; Oh yeah, and did I mention that finals week is fast approaching and we're really cramming for everything? What I'm tryin' to say is… those are the factors that are causing me to delay the publishing of this horrible fic of mine; however, during Semestral Break, if I won't be participating in some extra work for school, I'll be trying to put some more effort into this since it's just my second priority next to schoolwork… but in the meantime, bear with this… -.-'

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-Seven: Things Are Getting Better… Or Worse-

            Just like the other ShinRas before them, the former President and his wife was buried in Nibelheim after a seven-day wake at the church in Nibelheim.

Obviously, Rufus had to take over as the President because his Old Man kicked the bucket together with his mother.

Pity.

At first Rufus really did not like the idea. He felt so afraid that he might fail, but he's quite good in hiding his fear. In his inauguration speech, he even mentioned, "I do things differently; I control the world with fear."

So that's his slogan: Fear is Power.

Cloud thought it was stupid.

Reno thought it was ridiculous.

Sephiroth thought it was a nice idea.

Vincent just kept quiet about it but he told Lucrecia that Rufus just worsened his image to the public by deciding to use fear as a way of reprimand and ruling.

Heidegger and Palmer just kept their thoughts to themselves, hoping that Rufus would be better than his father in the presidency of both the company and Midgar.

Hojo had other plans in his head…

Though they all find it weird and really disturbing, for the next five months after Rufus took over, he would always be in his office doing his usual Presidential work for ShinRa and Midgar.

Signing papers, approving project proposals, rejecting proposals, reading marketing plans, signing new laws, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Five months… 

It's Aerith's 6th month of pregnancy; while it's Tifa's 5th month. 

Almost everyone is happy for the fact that the wives of the two remaining heirs of ShinRa are going to give birth to young little heirs; that way, they would not have to worry about losing an heir or something in case Cloud or Rufus kicks the bucket.

Let us compare Aerith to Tifa, shall we?

Aerith spends most of her time knitting and sewing clothes for her upcoming baby boy (they had Lucrecia check on her and she revealed that Aerith's baby is a boy through ultrasound and more of her tests) inside the nursery reserved for the baby. She sits on the rocking chair, humming tunes, while Cloud sits beside her and keeps her company. Just watching his wife keeps him entertained; in other words, he is not bored.

We always expect that pregnant women are very moody, but not Aerith. She is still the same.

Going to Tifa, she seems to be in the depressed side. Lucrecia, Aerith, Yuffie, Elena, Sephiroth, Vincent and Cloud would always be worried about her condition and would warn her that it could harm the baby.

Cloud, Sephiroth and Vincent even advised Rufus that he should be the one to help enlighten Tifa.

Rufus would just tell them to mind their own business. "It's Tifa's choice if she wants to smile, laugh, cry or eat or do whatever she pleases. Besides, she belongs to me so don't bother with her."

"Oh, so my cousin is just one of your stuff right now, is that what you're tryin' to say?" Sephiroth demanded.

Rufus just stared at him. "Yes." He replied stiffly.

Sephiroth wanted to kill him already for what he had said, but he stopped himself. "Fine." Was all he could say before walking out of Rufus's office.

Tifa would only eat once a day; and she doesn't even have the appetite to do so. She turned too pale and looked so weak and so depressed that she would not face anyone, not even her own husband. She would just stay inside their bedroom and sit by the window and stare outside.

Rufus is not really dense enough to just let Tifa live like that, so one day, he consulted Lucrecia. She revealed that Tifa is taking her vitamins for her own health and for her baby's health.

            Months later, Aerith gave birth to a healthy baby boy whom she and Cloud named _Ares_.

A month later, Tifa was due…

During her delivery, Rufus and the others waited outside the delivery room. Lucrecia was the only one who had permission to enter and stay with Tifa.

"Aren't you excited, Rufus?" Cloud asked.

"What's there to be excited about?" Rufus asked, pretending not to care while maintaining his usual poker-face.

"C'mon, you're going to be a father!" Cloud told him encouragingly.

"Whatever." Rufus rolled his eyes and just turned away with a grouchy look on his face.

An hour later, Lucrecia arrived with a disturbed expression on her face.

"Wh…why? Is there anything wrong?" Cloud asked her.

"Where's Tifa? How is she? Is it a boy or a girl?" Elena asked excitedly.

Lucrecia swallowed hard and shook her head in disbelief as she touched her forehead with her right hand, wiping the sweat off from her brow.

Rufus was looking at her, trying to understand the look on her face.

She couldn't speak.

Seconds later, the doctor came rushing out of the delivery room with a group of nurses and two other doctors following after him; they were surrounding and quickly rolling a bed down the hallway. Tifa was lying down on it, unconscious and with several life support systems attached to her and an oxygen mask on face.

Rufus's eyes widened upon seeing her and he instantly rushed to the doctor. "What happened to her?" he demanded with an angry look on his face.

"President Rufus, your wife almost died during the delivery. We're taking her to the Intensive Care Unit because she is in critical condition. There is something that we've found in her bloodstream… some kind of poisonous chemical that can damage her brain and her reproductive system. We don't know what it is but it acted like some kind of killing chemical to the child…"

"What are you trying to say?!" Rufus snapped impatiently.

"I'm sorry to say, sir, but your baby was already dead even before it came out today."

            It was all over the news: the heir of ShinRa died.

"How could it have died while it's still inside Tifa's womb?!" Lucrecia kept on asking herself the same question ever since she found out about it, and she kept on researching about that kind of phenomena but could not find anything that could match Tifa's case. Even though no one is really saying anything, Lucrecia was beginning to feel so guilty. "What have I done to Tifa?!" she thought miserably as she swallowed hard before opening up another medical book. She had been inside the laboratory of the ShinRa Building ever since she got back. She never slept, ate or drank anything for the next 78 hours and she was beginning to look terrible and sickly.

"Rufus, you have to talk to Lucrecia. She's blaming herself for what happened because she gave Tifa those vitamins and…" Vincent tried to reason out with Rufus, but his friend also had a confused mind on why his son died even before it was born. "It would've poisoned Tifa's body to have the dead child inside her… but the doctor revealed that it all had something to do with those vitamins…" Rufus was thinking before replying to Vincent, "Let her blame herself for it. I don't care," and left Vincent there in the waiting area before heading for the floor of the hospital where the ICU is located.

Sephiroth just leaned back on the couch with a frustrated look on his face. "When the hell will he listen?!" he asked out loud with a hopeless look on his face.

"When pigs fly, maybe." Reno reasoned out with a snort.

Aerith sighed heavily as she embraced her baby gently. "Tifa and I… took the same vitamins. She had her own bottle, I had my own. How come I'm not in danger and she's…" she stammered with tear-stained eyes.

Cloud could notice the restless look on Heidegger's face. The General just turned away from Cloud and pretended not to care so much. "Do you know anything about this, Heidegger?" he demanded, surprising the fat man.

"N…no, sir. It's a rare case…" Heidegger replied.

Vincent and Sephiroth turned to Heidegger, sensing his discomfort. "We know that it's a rare case." Cloud told him.

"Yeah… I…I just hope that Miss Lockheart is okay." Heidegger said with a weak smile on his face.

"Miss Lockheart?" Cloud demanded.

"I… uh… mean… _Mrs. ShinRa_. Gyahahahahaha…" Heidegger laughed uneasily.

Cloud just rolled his eyes before turning away, facing Sephiroth and Vincent. "Reno, Aerith and I are going back to ShinRa now because she needs to rest. I'll take Heidegger with me because I don't trust him so much when it comes to Tifa and Rufus… will the two of you just stay here and guard them?" he asked with a whispery tone loud enough for only Sephiroth and Vincent to hear.

"Sure. We wouldn't wanna leave Tifa with Rufus here." Sephiroth reasoned out.

"I… Cloud, may I be permitted to just go back to ShinRa with you and Aerith so that I can make sure that Lucrecia is okay?" Vincent asked.

"Sure. So that leaves Sephiroth," Cloud turned to his friend.

"Don't worry, I can handle this." Sephiroth reassured him with a friendly pat.

With that, Cloud and the others left, leaving only Sephiroth behind.

            Rufus was looking at Tifa from outside her room. She was already conscious and her eyes were open, staring back at Rufus with an expression that seemed to be telling him, "I'm so sorry…"

But he just maintained his ever-so cold look before turning away from her, the look on his face making her feel more guilty than ever.

She had tears in her eyes but she did not let them fall. "Somebody hates me… really hates me… whoever that person is, he or she killed my father and my baby… and he or she must have killed my baby so that Rufus will also hate me… if I get out of here alive, I'll tell Rufus that I'll just leave. There's no point in this anymore," she thought silently.

Sephiroth saw that Rufus was just standing by the doorway outside Tifa's ICU room. "What are you doing there?" Sephiroth asked him with a calm tone before sitting down on the couch facing the room.

"I'm guarding her. Isn't that the husband's duty to guard his wife?" Rufus asked with an airy tone.

Sephiroth shook his head in disbelief. "No, I mean, aren't you supposed to be inside?" he asked.

"I'm not allowed to go inside." Rufus replied casually.

"You're lying,"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are,"

"No, I'm not." Rufus said sternly, losing his patience with his friend.

"I was there when the Doctor told you that you can go inside and check on her." Sephiroth pointed out.

Rufus fell silent and just looked away before proceeding to sit down on the other end of the couch away from Sephiroth. 

Sephiroth was looking at him, scanning the scowl on his face. He smiled slightly at his friend, "You don't want to go inside because you are afraid to look at her, huh? She looks so horrible, huh?" Sephiroth mocked.

"Shut up, Sephiroth," Rufus snapped impatiently, but deep inside, he was thinking, "Yes, she looks horrible… all those tubes attached into her body and those wires… and the look on her face… that oxygen mask… the tears in her eyes… the way she looks at me… dammit!" Finally, he faced Sephiroth with a deep frown on his face. "Could Tifa be allergic to the vitamins?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

Sephiroth thought for a while. "You know, you should have the laboratory investigated. I'm pretty certain that one of your executives are really beginning to rebel against you and Cloud and the whole ShinRa family." He said with a whispery tone loud enough for only Rufus to hear as he moved closer to him.

Rufus looked at the floor, then back to Sephiroth again. "You think so, too?" he asked.

Sephiroth nodded. "I hear several things whenever I'm in the barracks. Your parents did not know it because nobody bothered to tell them. I couldn't warn them because I'm just from the First Class Soldier and General Heidegger would not approve of it." He explained.

"As I have noticed it before…" Rufus began.

"You've noticed it too?" Sephiroth asked.

Rufus nodded his head slightly. "I'm not _that dense. Those executives could also be behind Lockheart's death. I've been thinking that Tifa must have agreed to marry me without any further thoughts about it so that she could also do some investigating; but maybe those assholes know that she is smart and can easily detect them so they must have tried to poison her with those vitamins in hopes that she would die…" Rufus started to explain._

"…or it is also possible that those executives hated your parents and your whole family so they killed them by planting a bomb inside the chopper… and since you and Tifa are going to have a baby, they didn't want any more successors for ShinRa and they just decided to kill Tifa and your son." Sephiroth pointed out with a frown on his face.

The two were silent for a few seconds before Rufus finally spoke up with a slight smile on his face. "I trust you that you wouldn't tell Tifa this."

Sephiroth was still frowning at Rufus. "So you do care about Tifa," he pointed out.

"No, I don't. I just don't want anything bad happening to my company, that's all." Rufus said coldly.

Although Sephiroth could not understand if Rufus was lying or not, he just nodded his head mindlessly and turned away. "I suggest that you take Tifa someplace else while you're doing some investigating." He just said.

Rufus thought for a while. "Alright then, once she can get out of here, you will take her to Nibelheim and make sure that she stays in the ShinRa Mansion." He said finally.

Sephiroth's eyes widened in surprise. "Tifa and me?" he demanded.

"You sound like you hate your own cousin," Rufus said, pretending not to care.

"No, I mean… you _should_ take her there and stay with her for at least a month or so! I'm not her husband, you know? I'm just her cousin."

"Well, since her husband is a big irresponsible asshole, why can't the cousin just take care of her?" Rufus asked with a sarcastic tone. "C'mon, Sephiroth. Tell me that I'm a big, self-absorbed, vain asshole. You all think that I am, right? You think I don't know that?!" he demanded angrily.

"I didn't say anything," Sephiroth said airily, looking away from him.

"But it's in your eyes!" Rufus snapped.

"Rufus, if you know that you're really a big, self-absorbed, vain asshole, then why not change your attitude?!" Sephiroth suggested impatiently.

Rufus got up from the couch and clenched his fists. "I need to stay here in Midgar because I'm the President, okay? I cannot leave this damn place without a good reason, so just go with Tifa and take Elena with you so that she can have someone to share girl talk with… or maybe you want to act like a girl and discuss girly stuff with Tifa!" he reasoned out, wanting to change the subject.

"Oh, so Tifa's current condition isn't really a good reason for you to leave Midgar and take care of her and make sure that she's safe?" Sephiroth demanded.

Rufus just ignored him and walked away.

Sephiroth made a face and growled before stomping his foot impatiently on the floor, surprising the other people a few meters away from him.

            Five days later, Tifa was already allowed to check out. From the hospital, she was brought to Nibelheim. 

"Where am I going to stay here?" Tifa asked Sephiroth.

"ShinRa Mansion, where else?" her cousin replied.

Fortunately, since Rufus doesn't want to come along, Cloud and Aerith also joined them. Cloud wanted to take a vacation with his family in Nibelheim too, that's why he just decided to come along. It was alright with Rufus because, has he had mentioned, the more bodyguards Tifa has, the better.

Elena also went with them because she was already assigned to be Tifa's personal Turk bodyguard.

They all know that Tifa still felt so bad about what happened to her baby and so as a consolation, Aerith and Cloud would let her hold their Ares. However, Tifa did not really feel like holding her nephew because she would only miss her own son.

When Aerith, Elena and Tifa were alone in a room, she even mentioned, "I saw him. He was so blue… but I did not cry at that time because I was wondering what happened to him…"

She even asked them why Rufus did not come with them. Aerith just answered that he is busy with his work. 

"No, Aerith… I think he already hates me for what happened. Why can't he just tell me the truth that he hates me?" Tifa demanded angrily.

"Because he doesn't hate you! If he hates you, he would've permitted you to leave him when you asked him about leaving two days ago!" Aerith would tell her.

Tifa was supposed to stay in Nibelheim for five months, meaning, five months away from Rufus. She really hated the idea because if she would be away from Midgar, she wouldn't be able to investigate. She kept on calling Rufus but he wouldn't answer her calls. It was enough to drive her insane, but she still tried to pretend that everything would be okay. 

One evening, she just sat by the window of the Masters' Bedroom gazing up at the stars.

She heard a knock on the door, but she said, "Go away,"

Sephiroth entered anyway. "Aren't you going to sleep? It's past midnight," he told her.

"Can't sleep." Tifa muttered miserably.

"Look, I know that you want to get out of here but we can't let you until Rufus says so." He explained as he approached her.

She sighed heavily and just leaned back at the window pane. "I want to go back to Midgar." She admitted sadly.

Sephiroth looked at her curiously. "Tell me everything that you feel, Tifa. Everything that you've told Aerith and Elena. Please. I would like to help you." He told her as he got her hand and squeezed in gently.

Tifa withdrew her hand from him before looking up at the stars again. "I don't want Lucrecia to blame herself for what happened… because I think it's one of those executives' faults. The reasons why I want to go back to Midgar is because I don't trust those executives in helping Rufus with his work… and…" she trailed off.

"And what?" Sephiroth asked, realizing that he wasn't the only one who noticed that there was something fishy within the "league" of executives.

She smiled sadly before turning back to Sephiroth. "…I miss Rufus." She said softly with tears in her eyes.

He smiled gently at her before patting her shoulder. "There, there…" he began.

She sniffed and wiped her tears away before bowing down her head. "You remember when you asked me what my ideal guy is like?" she asked.

Sephiroth thought for a while, "Well… yeah." He replied, finally remembering it. "You said that as long as he would love you, everything else doesn't matter anymore… what his social class is, what his job is, how ugly he is… it doesn't matter." He explained.

She smiled bitterly. "I… I changed my mind… it doesn't matter anymore whether he loves me or not… as long as I do… I think I'll be fine with that…" she stammered as more tears fell from her eyes.

Sephiroth felt his heart sink. He smiled bitterly at his cousin before reaching out to give her a comforting hug. She leaned her head against his shoulder as she continued to cry. "I don't want him to leave me… I love him… I really do… I have done everything that I can to be close to him but… but he's the one avoiding me… it's like he's just using me… but even though he is only using me, I still don't care. I'm so stupid, Sephiroth… so stupid…" she said helplessly.

Sephiroth sensed that someone was watching them from the doorway so he turned his head to his left and saw through his peripheral vision that his younger sister, Aerith, was standing there. He motioned for her to come in, so she did.

Sephiroth let go of his cousin so that Aerith could hug her.

Tifa looked up at Aerith and embraced her. Aerith hugged her cousin back with a sad look on her face.

"Aerith, I wanna go home… I wanna go back to Rufus…" Tifa said.

            Rufus just lay awake, staring up at the ceiling of his own room. It had been three months ever since he last saw Tifa… and three months ever since he developed insomnia. It was so dark and only the moon served as the dimmest light from outside. He sighed heavily before turning to his side, secretly hoping to see Tifa lying down beside him and looking back at him with a loving smile on her face just like before.

He suddenly realized how lonely he was.

Earlier that day, he was with Vincent and Reno attending a meeting with the other executives of ShinRa… namely: Heidegger, Scarlet, Palmer, Reeve and Hojo.

The meeting was about the new developments and projects from each of the departments that those executives are in charge of. It was a very boring meeting because Rufus had heard the same proposals from Heidegger, Scarlet, Palmer and Reeve… but Hojo mentioned something different that had aroused everyone's attention.

"Mako energy, President Rufus," Hojo began.

Rufus raised an eyebrow. It wasn't such a new issue; the Professor had discussed this issue before with the late President, Rufus's dad… but it was not given a chance to be experimented upon because it is dangerous.

"Just think, President Rufus, with Mako, we can provide more electricity across the big city. And that's not all, President Rufus. You remember the sample Specimen that your father had labeled JENOVA? I am planning to really perform experiments with it." Hojo pointed out.

"But isn't it that President Rufus's father had discouraged you from experimenting on Mako and JENOVA because it is dangerous and can put several lives in danger?" Reeve pointed out with a keen look on his face.

"I am not talking to you, Reeve," Hojo snapped.

"Kyahahahahahaha! And how much are you asking from President Rufus if you want to pursue this, Hojo?" Scarlet asked with a challenging look on her face.

"Around 5 million Gil," Hojo turned back to Rufus with a sly grin.

Rufus just stared blankly at Hojo, never failing to notice the frown on Vincent's face from his peripheral vision. 

"Five million Gil for a useless experiment? I don't think so. You stupid fools, why can't you have your own funds for your own damn projects instead of asking money from me?" Rufus demanded angrily.

"Kyah, President Rufus, don't get us wrong… as you can see, we are really having a hard time budgeting because of the tough times and…" Scarlet began, but Rufus cut her off by saying, "Tough times, eh? How come the Urban Development Department has its own funds?" 

"Because Reeve doesn't get salary deductions," Palmer pointed out.

"Well, well, well, maybe that is a warning that maybe the rest of you should _behave_ and not screw up!" Rufus pounded on the table before he got up impatiently. "This meeting is adjourned." He snarled before marching out of the conference room with Reno and Vincent.

"You sound so irritated," Reno pointed out the moment they got out.

"I _am_ irritated, Reno." Rufus muttered impatiently.

"You still can't sleep?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah… maybe that's why I get irritable more often than before." Rufus thought silently, not really wishing to answer Vincent's question out loud. "How's Lucrecia?" he just asked.

Vincent was surprised by the question, "She's… still the same. Still trying to find out the reason behind…behind…" he stammered.

"Behind my son's death and Tifa's near-death experience. No need to feel sorry for saying that, Vincent." Rufus pointed out with a cold look on his face.

Reno snorted. "Man, five months in Nibelheim?" he asked, shoving his hands inside his pockets.

Rufus just kept quiet.

"I miss Elena," Reno admitted with a rather sad look on his face. He and Vincent watched Rufus's facial expression, hoping that what he had mentioned could trigger something in him.

But there was no change

Rufus sighed heavily before he reached out for the space beside him, touching the pillow and the bed sheet. He felt so annoyed at himself for not yet being able to find out who the culprit is. "I have five suspects… but who among those executives did it? It couldn't just be Hojo… right?" he thought silently. 

He closed his eyes for a while and then opened them again. With that, he got up from the bed, headed for the bathroom and got dressed in his usual everyday clothes…

            Tifa turned to her side and sighed heavily as she remained lying on the bed with a sad look on her face. She still couldn't sleep and it was already two in the morning.

She could hear crickets chirping from outside… but what surprised her was that moments later, she thought she heard the sound of a helicopter landing near the house.

But she didn't care anymore. She just closed her eyes, hoping that she would finally fall asleep and not have bad dreams about Hojo and the other evil executives from ShinRa; however, she opened up her eyes again in surprise when she felt a pair of arms embracing her from behind. She instantly shifted to her other side so that she could face the person who just lay down beside her and embraced her.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "R…Rufus?" she asked.

He did not say anything more, he just caressed her cheek but he still had this cold look on his face. 

She smiled lovingly at him before hugging him back. "Rufus," she whispered happily, though there were tears in her eyes. She didn't want to let him go in fear that he might leave her again if she does. "I'm so… I'm so sorry about our baby…" she said with a trembling tone.

He could feel her crying and it made his heart sink, although he still maintained a straight face. "It's okay, Tifa… we can try again…" he told her gently.

She swallowed hard. "Wh…what?" she asked as she moved away a little bit so that she could look at him.

Rufus smiled bitterly at her before he embraced her tightly against himself, leaning his head against hers. "You remember once, I mentioned that I would like to help you?" he asked her.

She could not really remember, but all thoughts led back to the certain afternoon when her father was buried and she had nowhere to go… and then came Rufus.

"My parents died an unexpected death… same with your father… I am certain that their deaths were planned by the same people or even by a single person, but I'm not sure who that person is. Sephiroth also has his suspicions, I have my own…"

"What are you trying to say?" she asked.

"We will help each other determine who the killer is. Do you understand?" Rufus asked.

Tifa was silent for a while before finally admitting, "My real motive of agreeing to marry you is… so that I could avenge my father's death…" 

Rufus's eyes widened at her, but before he could say anything, she kissed him. "But please, don't get me wrong, Rufus… I love you," she told him with a loving smile on her face…

            Let's leave the mush for a while, shall we? We need to go back to ShinRa HQ… inside the Laboratory… where Hojo is beginning to construct molecular models with his computer while listening to Vincent and Lucrecia conversing in one corner of the laboratory, where the two do not know that Hojo is still there.

"Rufus and Tifa are not blaming you, Lucrecia." Vincent told her gently.

She nodded her head. "I believe you, Vincent, but when I see Hojo, he makes me feel like everyone's blaming me for everything… I mean, I gave Tifa and Aerith the same vitamins, but how come Tifa was the one who experienced the side-effects that are not supposed to happen?!" she asked as she clenched her fists.

Vincent frowned at what she said. "Hojo?" he asked, and thought for a few moments before finally coming into the conclusion. "Shit…" he thought silently before taking Lucrecia's hand. "Let's go someplace else, shall we?" he asked.

"Wh…what?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "Let's take a walk outside." He told her.

They passed by Hojo and he was staring enviously at the two. "Hahahahaha! The two lovebirds are going for a moonlight walk, huh?" he teased sarcastically.

Vincent just ignored him as they went along.

Hojo frowned at Vincent. "It's 2 in the morning, Valentine," he pointed out.

"I know that, Hojo." Vincent muttered glumly before he and Lucrecia finally got out of the laboratory, leaving Hojo there with an angry glare at the door as it closed.

"Hmf… asshole. You and Lucrecia are going to pay…" Hojo muttered angrily before opening his own database in his computer and went to his list of specimens and samples. He went to the section with JENOVA labeled on the link and a message showed that there are still no specimens for the experiment. He smiled slyly before clicking the "new specimen" link. A dialog box appeared and the computer spoke up, "_Enter the name of your new specimen."_

Hojo let go of the mouse and his hands traveled slowly to the keyboard and typed slowly the name of his new specimen and pressed _enter_.

The computer spoke up to confirm his entry: "_Your new specimen is labeled 'Lucrecia'"_

Hojo had this sly grin on his face as he saved the changes and then shut down the program afterwards. He sighed contentedly as he leaned back on his seat.


	8. His Most Trusted Friend Dies

-Eight: His Most Trusted Friend Dies-

            "So you came here all the way from Midgar because you already miss her and you can't stop thinking about her." Sephiroth told Rufus as they were walking down the hallway with Cloud leading to the library of the ShinRa Mansion.

"I didn't say anything like that." Rufus muttered miserably.

"Yeah, but it seems like it." Cloud pointed out as he nudged his younger brother.

"Shut up." Rufus muttered glumly.

"C'mon, Rufus! You don't need to hide from us your true feelings! If you love her, then declare it to the whole world! Mwahahahahahaha!" Sephiroth laughed happily before leaning forward to Rufus, making him stop and lean against the wall. He smirked. "So, is my cousin going to have another baby soon?" he asked.

Rufus raised an eyebrow at him while trying to mind off Cloud's laughter from behind them. He pushed Sephiroth away from himself and went ahead to the library. "I don't know, but if she is going to have another baby, I'll just make her stay here. Can't risk letting the others know anymore." Rufus told them as they entered the library.

"Yeah… it's better that way. At least make her stay here until she gives birth. That way, you can be sure that the baby will live… and she will live." Sephiroth pointed out with a serious look on his face.

"What are you going to search in here and why'd you ask us to come along?" Cloud asked.

"JENOVA." Rufus replied before heading to the first shelf to his right.

"That again?" Cloud asked in disbelief.

"I can tell that Hojo proposed about his JENOVA project again, huh?" Sephiroth asked with a frown on his face before he decided to help Rufus search for the right books to read about JENOVA.

"Yep. Did that during a damn meeting yesterday." Rufus explained.

"You know what, we really have to fire that old geezer and send him to a mental asylum." Cloud suggested.

"I can't. I'm still trying to investigate about mom and dad's death… and also Tifa's dad." Rufus replied.

"Aha, and since when did you become interested in Lockheart's case?" Cloud asked probingly with a slight smile on his face.

"I just think that those three deaths including my son's could be linked to those executives especially Hojo, Heidegger, Palmer and Scarlet." Rufus said.

"What about Reeve?" Cloud asked.

"Reeve's a doormat to begin with, so why bother? I don't think he could even hold a damn gun." Sephiroth pointed out as he took a seat on one of the chairs and flipped open an encyclopedia.

"Anyway, we're all going back to Midgar tomorrow." Rufus told them.

"With Tifa?" Sephiroth asked.

"Yes, with Tifa." Rufus replied with a wink.

Cloud and Sephiroth exchanged quick teasing smiles with one another before turning back to Rufus. "Admit it, Rufus." The latter teased.

"Admit what?" Rufus asked, trying to act innocent.

"That you love her?" Cloud asked.

"You don't sound like yourselves today." Rufus replied glumly.

"You too." Cloud pointed out.

Rufus just kept quiet and smiled secretly to himself as he proceeded to the third shelf. He was interrupted when his mobile phone just rang. He got it from his pocket and checked the caller I.D. first before answering the call. "Good afternoon, Vincent." He greeted with a sarcastic tone.

"Where are you? We've been looking all over for you here and they even thought that some terrorists kidnapped you or something?" Vincent demanded.

"I'm in Nibelheim. I'll be back there tomorrow with the rest." Rufus said simply.

Vincent kept quiet for a while before proceeding. "Yes, I think you should really come back here as soon as possible because I have something very important to tell you."

"Why not tell me now?" Rufus asked with a frown on his face as he walked to Sephiroth and Cloud and sat down beside the former.

Vincent hesitated for a while but then answered, "Alright. The other Turks are gone. This is something about Hojo… I think he's got something to do with what happened to Tifa and your son." He told him.

Rufus's eyes widened. "Wh…what do you mean?" he asked.

"I'll explain tomorrow once you arrive here. Oh yeah, and Lucrecia and I are getting married on Friday so can I ask for a leave?" Vincent asked.

Rufus's mouth dropped open in confusion. "Man, you're confusing me…" he began.

"No, really. I'm marrying her." Vincent said with a proud tone.

Rufus chuckled lightly before shaking his head in disbelief. "Well congratulations, Vinny. We'll just see you tomorrow and no, you can't have a leave." He said before hanging up. "The red-eyed guy's getting hitched on Friday." He announced.

Sephiroth and Cloud just stared in disbelief. "Vinny?" the former asked.

"Yeah." Rufus replied.

"To whom?" Sephiroth asked.

"To you." Rufus replied casually.

Silence.

"Shut up." Sephiroth muttered with a sarcastic smile on his face before proceeding to read. 

Rufus and Cloud laughed at him. "Man, can't you take a joke like that?" the former demanded.

"Well you're the one who was accused of  being gay by your father, and of all guys that he would think that you'd be dating, why me?" Sephiroth demanded.

Rufus just continued to laugh.

Cloud shook his head in disbelief and sighed heavily before leaning back on the couch. "Well at least he's happy." He thought silently.

***

            The day of Vincent and Lucrecia's wedding finally arrived. Obviously, Hojo was the one who did not come to the celebration. He just spent the whole day inside the laboratory, preparing for an upcoming experiment. He kept on laughing to himself as he began to construct new molecular models and new formulas and procedures on how he is going to conduct the JENOVA Experiment.

"She may be Valentine's, but she is my property. Hahahahaha." He kept on saying out loud to himself as he continued to work.

Hojo hoped that no one would be interrupting him for the rest of the day especially in the evening because he was planning to work nonstop; however, at around nine in the evening, he heard the laboratory door open. Upon looking up on who entered, his sly smile disappeared and his laughter faded away. He frowned and stared coldly at Sephiroth who was approaching him. "Well, what does the First Class Soldier want at this hour?" he asked airily.

Sephiroth had this serious look on his face as he neared Hojo. "I would like to ask you a couple of questions or more…" he began.

"Really? About what?" Hojo asked.

Sephiroth stopped walking as he finally reached Hojo. "About my cousin Tifa and her son… who also happens to be my nephew. Unfortunately, he died." He said with a hinting tone.

Hojo just shrugged and motioned for him to sit down on one of the stools. "Lucrecia isn't here. Why don't you ask her? Besides, everything was her fault." He pointed out.

"You work here, right?" Sephiroth asked.

"How dare you speak to me like that? You are only from SOLDIER and I'm the Chief Scientist here in ShinRa; which makes you several castes lower than me." Hojo pointed out.

"I didn't come here to talk about which social classes we belong in; I came here to ask you some questions… besides, in case you didn't know, I am also assigned in President Rufus's Office, meaning, I have a position. I am also being paid to do some investigation." Sephiroth snapped impatiently with a sarcastic smile on his face. "Now, question number one… do you know anything about where Lucrecia stores the vitamins?" he asked calmly.

Hojo just stared at him. "Get out of here. I'm busy." He said.

"Answer the question first," Sephiroth said.

Hojo laughed at him. "Tell you what, Sephiroth. You stop asking those stupid questions and I can help you gain a much higher position than where you are right now… say, replacing Heidegger's position?" he asked.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed at him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"You see… this JENOVA is very powerful. It can make you invincible. Maybe you could volunteer as one of my new specimens so that we can test its effects on you." Hojo said.

"I thought that Rufus did not allow you to continue?" Sephiroth asked.

"Oh yes, he didn't… but he didn't say that I cannot work secretly, right?" Hojo asked before he pulled out a specialized pistol and quickly aimed at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was about to reach out for his Masamune but he was surprised at himself that it wasn't with him. He must've left it in Rufus's Office on the 70th floor. "Shit…" he muttered.

"So what's it going to be? You are the strongest among all the Soldiers of ShinRa… but you are still mortal like everyone else… you are still a human. With JENOVA, you can be superhuman… beyond human! A single shot from this pistol cannot harm you if you have JENOVA." Hojo explained with a deranged look on his face.

Sephiroth just stared at Hojo with a blank look on his face. "Go ahead. Shoot me. I'll still have my revenge once I have JENOVA." He said.

What he said did not make sense to Hojo, so the crazy scientist just pulled the trigger.

As soon as Sephiroth dropped dead to the floor upon getting shot twice through the heart and the head, the laboratory door opened and there was Scarlet holding a clipboard. She saw what Hojo had done, causing her to scream.

Hojo just smiled calmly at her before he hid the pistol. 

She started to run away but he went after her, caught her and dragged her back inside the laboratory. "Stop screaming, you slut!" he scolded impatiently.

"KYAH! Let me go! You murderer!" she screeched shrilly, her voice echoing through the walls of the laboratory.

Hojo slapped her face hard, causing her to hit the wall. "Me? A murderer?" he demanded angrily.

"Kyah! You're insane! You killed Sephiroth!" she screeched angrily.

"Like you care about this boy?" he asked calmly before approaching her, pulling her hair and grabbing her wrists and twisting them behind her back. "Listen closely, you bitch… you didn't see anything." He sneered before smiling gently at her, moving his face closer to hers. "So what if I killed Sephiroth? So what if I killed Lockheart? So what if I killed those two ol' ShinRas?" he asked with a demented look on his face.

"Kyah… you're… crazy," she struggled to say.

He just kicked her on the stomach, causing her to scream in pain again before she dropped to the floor, crouching down in severe pain.

Hojo's facial expression changed, from calm to frantic. "Oh no… this is bad…" he ran outside, heading for the 70th floor. "President Rufus! President Rufus!" he was shouting.

Scarlet struggled to stand up but she couldn't. She felt so weak all of sudden. "I gotta get out of here… and tell everyone that Hojo is the real criminal… that he killed President Rufus and Sir Cloud's parents…" she thought silently.

She was having a hard time sitting up and when she did so, it was already too late… Hojo had returned with some guards, the Turks and Rufus.

"Kyah…" she struggled to speak but she just collapsed.

Rufus stared at Sephiroth in disbelief, his blue eyes wide in awe. "S…Sephiroth," he struggled to say.

Tifa, Aerith and Cloud came into the scene but they stopped by the doorway, staring at Sephiroth's dead body.

"NO!" Aerith screamed before running to her older brother and knelt down beside him, touching his face with a trembling hand as she started to cry.

Rufus knelt down beside Aerith, not caring if the blood has stained his white pants and his white jacket. He got Sephiroth's hand and squeezed it gently with a bitter look on his face before turning to the Turks with a cold look on his face. "Arrest that bitch," he commanded, referring to Scarlet.

"Kyah… President Rufus! It wasn't my fault! Hojo killed Sephiroth!" Scarlet reasoned out.

"SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!" Rufus yelled angrily.

Rude and Tseng grabbed Scarlet while Elena placed handcuffs around her wrists.

"Take that slut to Junon." Cloud commanded to them.

"Sir Cloud… I did not do anything!" Scarlet explained.

But Cloud just stared coldly at her. "I never even trusted you to begin with. You think I should trust you now?" he asked coldly before going to Aerith and Rufus.

As they passed by Tifa who was frozen at her spot by the doorway because of too much shock, Scarlet reached out for her but she moved away with a shocked look on her face. "Miss Lockheart… please… I didn't kill your father!" Scarlet pleaded.

Tifa's eyes narrowed at her as she shook her head in disgust at Scarlet. "It's _Mrs. ShinRa_." Reno corrected before slapping Scarlet's face.

Tifa just turned away from them and ran to Rufus and the others. She swallowed hard as she approached Sephiroth, her cousin. She bit her lower lip as she knelt down beside Aerith the moment Rufus got up, but he was still staring at Sephiroth.

Tifa gave Aerith a comforting hug. "Tifa… he's dead…" Aerith sobbed helplessly.

Tifa just nodded sadly as she rested her head on Aerith's shoulder as she let her tears fall.

Hojo just stared coldly at them before turning to the Soldiers. "Get his body out of here." He commanded.

Rufus took one last look at Sephiroth before he finally left the laboratory with a stiff look on his face, even though his eyes were already filled with tears. He went straight to his room and headed straight to the window, hoping that looking at the stars could calm him down. But it was useless. 

Rufus wiped his tears away with a deep frown on his face when he heard Tifa enter. "Rufus," she began.

He gazed at her with a hard look on his face, although his eyes revealed to her that he was hurting deep inside. It made her heart sink to see him crying and looking so hurt and disappointed.

Rufus turned away from her and pounded on the windowpane, bowing down his head as he clenched his fists. "He was my best friend, you know?" he asked with a voice that seemed to falter.

She swallowed hard before she proceeded to him. She just embraced him from behind but did not say anything more as she listened to his gentle sobbing.

---------------------------------------------------------------- 

To be continued.

I'm so uninspired…… =_='


	9. Sephiroth

-Nine: Sephiroth-

            Let's advance to the part when Tifa finally conceived again… same with Lucrecia.

Upon learning the Tifa was already pregnant, Rufus immediately sent her to Nibelheim with Elena, and due to Tifa's request, Yuffie.

Lucrecia still continued to work in the laboratory, trying to avoid Hojo as much as she can because he was really beginning to give her the worst of all creeps.

Hojo kept on staring at her and even though his motive isn't clear to her, she still felt so uncomfortable about the fact that he is still staring at her.

"How many months?" he asked her.

She looked at him with a surprised expression on her face. "Huh?" she asked.

"How many months have you been pregnant already?" he elaborated.

She pretended to be thinking. "Oh… uh… a month." She replied uncomfortably.

Hojo smiled secretly before proceeding with his own work, but what disturbed Lucrecia the most was the fact that he started humming a song.

Evening came and she decided to just leave and go to the Turks' Lounge to meet Vincent so that they could have dinner together. However, upon walking towards the door, Hojo called her attention again, "Lucrecia,"

She stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at him. "Yeah?" she asked casually.

Hojo smiled calmly at her. "Will you come over here for a second?" he asked.

She suddenly felt nervous. "Wh…why?" she asked.

"I need help with this molecular model." He told her.

She thought for a while before replying with a hesitant smile, "Well… I'm sorry, Hojo… but I have to go upstairs to the Turks' Lounge to meet Vincent. I promised that I would have dinner with him,"

He laughed smugly. "Can't keep your husband waiting, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah… he gets impatient sometimes…" she lied, even though she knows that Vincent isn't really the type of guy who would get impatient.

He just stared at her. "Well, if he really loves you, he'll understand why you're late. You can tell him that you were so busy mixing ingredients for a new drug that you didn't notice how fast time had passed by…" he explained casually.

"No, really. I think I should go." She replied sternly before turning away, but he replied, "Please?"

She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him again. "I could just smack his face and scream and run off if he tries to harass me." She thought silently before approaching him with a stern look on her face. "What's the problem with your molecular model?" she asked stiffly. She took a closer look at the model displayed in Hojo's monitor, "It looks perfectly fine," she told him.

"I think something is wrong with it. Maybe you could take a closer look?" he asked.

"Nah, I think it's perfectly fine…" she trailed off when he suddenly covered her nose and mouth with a black cloth. She tried to squirm away from him but she became too weak to do so. She felt so dizzy and she could feel her heart slowing down. "Oh no…" she thought silently as she lost control of her senses. "Vincent… help me…" was her last thought before she finally collapsed… though she could still hear her surroundings. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving anymore.

Hojo chuckled lightly before humming that annoying tune again. He pulled out a syringe with a needle already attached to it from his lab coat pocket. It already has this glowing silvery-green liquid inside. "I love you so much Lucrecia; why'd you have to marry that damn Valentine hell of a man? He's such a loser… he should die just like Sephiroth… you know?" he asked with a demented look on his face as he injected the liquid into her bloodstream.

He smiled sweetly at her before stroking her cheek. "Tell you what, Lucrecia darling… once you snap out of this trance, you tell Vincent or any other person and I'm going to make sure that he dies just like Sephiroth. You love him very much right? So protect him by shutting up about this incident. Do you understand?" he asked gently before giving her a kiss.

He saw tears streaming down from her eyes. "Aww… don't cry, darling…" he told her gently. "Your child is going to be very special… believe me." He said with a proud look on his face.

            Vincent was already in his room just seated on the bed and reading a book, though he still felt so restless. "Lucrecia didn't come to the lounge to have dinner with me… I wonder where she is? Maybe she didn't notice the time and just continued with her work…" he thought silently before putting down the book on the bedside table.

He turned to his watch and saw that it was already eleven in the evening. He shook his head in disbelief before he got out of bed, wanting to go to the laboratory and fetch Lucrecia there himself, but he stopped when the door slowly opened and there was Lucrecia with a blank look on her face.

He smiled lovingly at her. "Lucrecia," he greeted as she closed the door and slowly approached him.

She couldn't look at him at first, but the moment she raised her eyes to him, he noticed that she had been crying. "What's wrong?" he asked, feeling so nervous all of a sudden.

She shook her head. "N…nothing…" she replied softly before she embraced him tightly. "I love you, Vincent," she whispered softly before she burst into tears again.

He felt confused. "I… Lucrecia… is there anything wrong?" he asked.

She just shook her head. "Nothing… I'm just happy to be here with you…" she said with a voice that seemed to falter.

Vincent did not say anything more, he just embraced her back.

The next day, Lucrecia quit her job as one of ShinRa's top scientists, but since Rufus and Cloud could recognize her abilities very well, they just gave her Scarlet's old job: Head of the Weapons Department. She wanted to refuse, but if she did refuse the job, she would be living outside ShinRa and would seldom see her husband, so she just decided to take the job… "At least I'll be away from Hojo and the laboratory…" she told herself reassuringly.

            On Tifa's eighth month, Rufus went over to Nibelheim to stay with her.

"How are you?" he asked one night as they sat by the well just gazing up at the stars.

"I'm practically fine." She replied with a pleased tone.

He was seated a little bit away from her but he really wanted to sit closer to her. He just kept quiet and continued to gaze up at the stars.

"It's a girl." She continued, not wanting to have a silent moment with Rufus, especially since they haven't seen each other for several months and she missed him so much.

"I know, you sent me a letter telling me all about it." He responded blankly.

She bowed down her head, noticing from the tone of Rufus's voice that he is not so excited about it… but what can voices reveal? She didn't look into his eyes… that's where the truth is: he is very happy.

She just decided to smile but it was a bitter smile. She looked up at him. "What are you planning to name her?" she asked.

"I don't know. Any suggestions?" he asked blankly before flipping his hair as he frowned.

She swallowed hard. "Rufus, I…I know that most of the ShinRa heirs are men… like you. And now that we're going to have a daughter… are you… are you regretting?" she asked slowly.

He raised an eyebrow but he didn't look at her. "Why should I be regretting?" he asked.

"Because… our first baby died… and now our second one's a girl…" she stammered, feeling nervous all of a sudden upon remembering that in medieval times, some kings would have their queens murdered because they bore them daughters instead of sons.

He didn't notice from himself that he was already smiling as he gazed up at the stars. "I don't really care… as long as you're alive and she's alive… and the two of you are alright." He said softly.

Tifa smiled as she moved closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently. She sighed heavily. "I love you," she said.

He couldn't understand why she would keep on saying that she loves him over and over again. "You always say that," he said.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"You sound like those sappy romance movies." He pointed out.

She playfully punched his stomach. He jerked and she giggled. He chuckled lightly as he mindlessly wrapped his arm around her shoulder and patted her shoulder gently. "Don't do that! You know how horrible your punches are," he told her playfully.

She laughed. "Oh, so Rufus ShinRa does fear something!" she said mockingly.

"I didn't say that I'm afraid of your punches, Tifa," he told her with a glum look on his face.

"Yeah, whatever." She just replied.

They fell silent.

Again, she repeated those three words to him. "I love you."

"Stop saying that!" he snapped at her.

"Why? What's wrong with saying that I love you?" she asked with a curious look on her face.

He fell silent as he blushed and just shook his head. "Never mind…" he just said nervously.

She bowed down her head. "When I was a little girl, my mom told me that if I love someone, I should express it to them at any kind of opportunity that I could get… because a day could just arrive unexpectedly wherein it would be too late… and you couldn't tell them how much they had meant to you anymore…" she trailed off upon remembering her father, mother, and her cousin Sephiroth. She swallowed hard, not wishing to speak anymore, in fear that she might cry… and Elena would always remind her that sadness and tears are bad for pregnant women because it could affect the baby.

Rufus just shrugged. "Whatever." He muttered glumly before he let go of her and got up.

She followed after him as they headed back to the ShinRa Mansion.

Upon reaching their bedroom, when Tifa shut the door behind her, he turned to face her again with a serious look on his face as he approached her and touched her cheek and stroked her hair gently. He leaned forward to her as he lifted up her face so that she could face him. "I love you," he told her.

She smiled lovingly at him. It was the first time she had heard him tell her that.

And it meant so much to her.

And he repeated it even as he kissed her.

            Tifa gave birth a month later to a healthy baby girl with raven hair and blue eyes. She and Rufus named her _Tanya. A few days after she had given birth, she and Rufus returned to Midgar with their new baby… surprising Heidegger, Palmer, Hojo, Reeve, Rude and Tseng and all the other employees of ShinRa and everyone from Midgar… because they all knew that Tifa was sent to Nibelheim because of a fight between her and Rufus._

Now she has a baby.

Aerith was so glad to see Tifa again with the new baby girl.

A week later, Lucrecia gave birth to a baby boy… surprising the doctors and everyone else because the boy looked strange: silver hair and green eyes…

Just like Sephiroth.

So in honor of his late friend, Vincent just decided to name the child "Sephiroth"…

"The child could be an albino that's why he looks like that…" the doctor told them.

They did not check further because in other aspects, the child seems to appear normal: heartbeat, brain functions, etc.

Even as a baby, Sephiroth had been showing signs of hatred on a certain person: Hojo, to be exact. Whenever he would attempt to come near him, Sephiroth would bite him or throw his toys at him… do anything in order to keep the old geezer scientist away from himself. Of course, Hojo would get mad and would tell Vincent that his son's a delinquent and that he should teach him a lesson.

"You're the one who needs a lesson, Hojo," Vincent would tell him calmly.

Vincent noticed that Hojo was so interested in Sephiroth, so he made it a point to protect his son against him. 

…and Hojo was so focused on Sephiroth that he did not notice the other children in ShinRa growing up too.

Observing him behind their parents' backs.

In school Sephiroth was the best in class next to Tanya and Ares. He also seemed to be so over-protective of the two at times… and at several instances, he would sound so intelligent and wise beyond his years. 

At age 8, he was already showing signs of interest in joining the ShinRa Army, so his father allowed him… even though Lucrecia just wanted him to be in school and not self-studying while training himself to become a Soldier.

In Hojo's part, unknown to all the others, he is observing the growth of the boy… and he was so busy and so focused on his "experiment" that he did not notice the other children on his trail.

            "I have this science homework and I can't seem to understand it very well." Tanya told her father one evening.

Rufus just went on with his paperwork as he replied, "Go to your mom and ask her to help you."

"But mom is tired." She replied with a stubborn look on her face.

Cloud studied the look on Tanya's face; she reminded him so much of Rufus. He shook his head in disbelief before he proceeded to check on Rufus's work. "I think you should help Tanya with her homework." Cloud suggested.

"She's smart. She can do it. She's number one in the whole second grade." Rufus replied mindlessly before grabbing a pen to make some corrections on one of the documents that was submitted to him earlier by Palmer.

"What's it about?" Cloud asked, turning to Tanya.

"Plants." She replied to her uncle.

"I think Hojo's testing some insecticide on plants. You can go to him and ask him." Rufus pointed out mindlessly.

"Hojo?" Tanya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's in the laboratory, Tanya." Cloud pointed out.

"Can you come with me, Uncle Cloud?" she asked.

"No, I'm helping out your father here. Relax, Hojo won't harm you," Cloud told her reassuringly.

She just stared up at him before she turned and walked away. The moment she got out, Rufus spoke up, "She's as stubborn as her mother." 

"No, I think she's as stubborn as you, Rufus." Cloud pointed out. "You know what, if you don't spend time with your daughter, she might end up acting like a delinquent of some sort." He continued.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. She has her mother to take care of her while I'm in here." Rufus said mindlessly before turning to his computer and began to encode some numbers in a database program.

"So what are you planning to do?" Cloud asked his brother.

Rufus was silent for a while before saying, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are you planning to do now? It's been eight years ever since our parents died and we still haven't found out who the killer is." Cloud replied.

"The killer is Scarlet." Rufus said.

"Really now?" Cloud asked.

"You doubt my judgment?" Rufus demanded as he stopped typing and turned to Cloud with a threatening look on his face.

Cloud just looked away and gathered some papers. "Rufus, there is something strange going on within this place… look at Vincent's son! I don't believe that Sephiroth is an albino and that nothing is wrong with him… I believe that there is something wrong with him." He pointed out.

"Like what?" Rufus asked.

"Vincent has his suspicions too, but he doesn't like to show Lucrecia that he mistrusted her at some point in fear of hurting her feelings… but maybe Hojo did something to Lucrecia," Cloud said.

"Like what? He raped her or had sex with her before she got married to Vincent or something?" Rufus asked with a ridiculous look on his face before patting Dark Nation's head. The black panther purred.

"No. I mean… Lucrecia had been acting so weird ever since after her first month of pregnancy. Vincent's the one who told me that…"

"Vincent said this and that. Why can't he tell me personally?" Rufus demanded.

"Because you're always busy in this office of yours." Cloud said.

"No, I'm not. I just look busy but you can still talk to me," Rufus snapped.

"Yes, you are." Cloud said airily.

They were interrupted when the door suddenly opened and there was Sephiroth standing there and staring up at them.

Cloud and Rufus stopped talking at once and stared at one another in curiosity before turning back to Sephiroth. "Well, good evening, Sephiroth." Rufus greeted blankly.

Sephiroth walked over to them.

"There really is something strange about him… he even resembles the old Sephiroth a lot…" Rufus thought silently as he stared into the boy's pair of green eyes.

The little boy looked up at him and smiled slightly. "Good evening, President Rufus and Vice-President Cloud." He greeted as he stopped before them.

The two were silent for a few moments before one of them spoke up, "What did you come here for?" Cloud asked.

Sephiroth looked up at Cloud. "I would just like to check if things are okay around here." He said.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.

"Aerith and Tifa. Are they okay?" Sephiroth asked.

The two fell silent, feeling confused all of a sudden.

Knowing that the two were too perplexed to answer, Sephiroth just turned back to Rufus with a friendly smile on his face. "You look tired, President Rufus. I think you should rest now. Besides, the First Lady is waiting for you." He pointed out before his face turned serious and he spoke up again. "Might I ask you, where is Mister Sephiroth's old Masamune?"

The two were really surprised by the question. "H…how did you know about Sephiroth?" Cloud asked with a stunned look on his face.

"Of course, I know Sephiroth. I _am Sephiroth." The boy replied._

The two felt nervous. "I'll… just give you the Masamune tomorrow. I think I hid it somewhere in a safe place… in honor of… my old friend." Rufus stammered, not really knowing what to say. He got up and smiled weakly at the boy. "I think you should go back to your room and sleep now." He said.

The boy turned to leave, but before he got out, he turned back to Cloud and Rufus and said in a serious tone, "You should be careful about Professor Hojo, you know?" and then left without saying or doing anything else.

"Uhm…" Cloud stammered, but he doesn't know how to put his thoughts into words.

"That was creepy." Rufus muttered with wide eyes.

Cloud nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed." He said.

            Sephiroth was on his way back to his own room when he saw Tanya standing in one corner of the hallway. She was holding a teddy bear with a jacket and she was looking at Sephiroth with a stiff look on her face. He checked if anyone was watching them first, then when he saw none, he proceeded to go to her. "What is it?" he asked.

Tanya handed him the teddy bear. "I went to Hojo's lab because I asked help for my science homework. While he wasn't looking, I copied all his important secret files into this disc." She said.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow as he stared at the teddy bear. "What disc?" he asked curiously.

She leaned closer to him and whispered, "It's inside the secret pocket of the jacket."

He nodded. "Oh… I see… well, promise me that that will be the last time you'll be doing that, okay? I don't want you to get hurt by that evil man!" he told her as he touched her cheek gently. 

She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't worry about me, Sephy. I know what I'm doing. Oh yeah, and it's password protected. Ares knows the password and he said that it's composed of the numbers 666." She explained before she left.

Sephiroth hugged the teddy bear tightly against himself before he proceeded back to his own room. "Everything is in here…" he thought silently. 

Upon reaching getting inside his own room, he went straight to his computer, and went straight to his business.

And then he saw it. He raised his eyebrows. "I never knew that that old geezer keeps a journal and it's even included in his secret database…" he thought silently upon reading some of the entries before proceeding to the area where he placed all the results, plans and expected results for all his past experiments.

His mouth dropped open upon realizing that the fonts were in gibberish. He couldn't understand a word… "Shit." He muttered angrily. He leaned back on his seat and sighed frustratingly. "This is going to be harder than I thought…" he thought silently before proceeding back to the journal. "I guess this one will do right now…" he thought silently before he proceeded to read the entries.

_Killed Sephiroth.__ Blamed it on Scarlet. The idiots of ShinRa believed me. Now the slut is rotting in prison. I still cannot take the fact that my Lucrecia is married to that bastard Vincent Valentine. So as revenge, she is now my specimen for the JENOVA project… including her child. Now we shall see the effects of JENOVA to an unborn child and to its mother…_

Sephiroth clenched his fists. "That bastard…" he cursed angrily.


	10. Death to the First Lady and the First Da...

-Ten: Death to the First Lady and the First Daughter-

            This is actually Hojo's plan:

Kill the First Lady and the First Daughter; a.k.a. Tifa and Tanya. By doing so, it will anger Rufus. A very angry Rufus can drive himself insane. If he will be insane, he'd be incapable of the presidency, so he would have to step down. Lucky for Hojo if Rufus will kill himself because of insanity. Then the older brother will step up as President. The moment Cloud Strife becomes president, Hojo's next victims would be the new First Lady and the son: Aerith and Ares respectively… in other words, kill the two. Knowing the fact that Cloud loves those two very much, the death of those two would definitely put his life in peril. How unfortunate for Cloud and how unfortunate for ShinRa itself. Once ShinRa falls, Hojo and the other executives who are with him are going to control it: meaning, they take over. They can kick out Cloud and all the other ShinRa cronies. Once that happens, ShinRa will be in their hands and they can all live happily ever after. 

Duh.

It sounds so easy for Hojo, and he's got everything all planned out already…

Very planned…

So perfectly planned that he expects immediate results…

            "You ready, Tanya?" Tifa asked.

Tanya stopped combing her hair and turned to face her mother who was standing by the doorway. "Yeah." She replied with a sweet smile on her face.

Tifa motioned for her daughter to come to her, so she did. "Why do we have to go to Junon?" Tanya asked.

"Your Auntie Aerith cannot make it there because she is representing ShinRa in Wutai, so I'm the one representing in Junon… and I'm taking you with me because I doubt if your daddy can take care of you properly." Tifa explained.

Tanya made a face. "But mom, I can take care of myself," she said.

"Who are you kidding?! You're only eight years old!" Tifa said before she stepped out of the room.

Tanya followed after her. "Elena is here to take care of me." She said.

"Right, and she's coming with us to Junon. Reno too." Tifa pointed out.

Tanya giggled. "Why not Mister Rude?" she asked.

"Because he's bald." Tifa replied jokingly.

The two laughed as they headed outside the ShinRa building where the chopper is waiting.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to daddy?" Tanya asked.

"He's in a meeting right now and doesn't want to be disturbed. Don't worry, we'll call him later." Tifa told her reassuringly before she boarded the chopper first.

Tanya was about to board the chopper when Sephiroth arrived with the teddy bear, accompanied by Ares.

"Hey!" he called out.

She turned to face him and her cousin with a curious look on her face.

The two stopped before her. Sephiroth handed her the teddy bear. "Here you go." He said.

She stared at it for a while before taking it, and as she did so, he leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to blush.

Ares snickered maliciously. "See you after three days, Tanya," he told his cousin as he patted her shoulder.

Tifa smiled at them before waving at Ares and Sephiroth.

Ares smiled sweetly at Tifa. "Bye, Aunt Tifa! Take care!" he said.

Tifa chuckled lightly. "You take care too, okay?" she asked.

With that, Tanya got inside the chopper.

The moment they took off, Tifa began to tease her daughter about Sephiroth. "Hmm… I could tell that Sephy likes you," she began.

"Mom…" Tanya warned.

It went on until they were already near Junon…

How did the talking stop?

… 

*** 

            "I… I just don't understand what happened, President Rufus… but… but… but…" 

Rufus did not let the other person from the other line finish. He hung up with a frustrated but worried look on his face. He got up from his seat and on his way to the door, Vincent entered. 

Vincent easily noticed the uneasiness in him, "What's going on?" he asked.

"There's been an accident. One of the guards from Junon called up… the chopper exploded." Rufus replied with a stiff look on his face, although his eyes revealed his worry and sorrow.

"What?!" Vincent demanded in shock.

Rufus got out of his office, but Vincent trailed behind him. "But… how? I mean… why would it even…" he began.

"I don't know! Dammit! I don't wanna talk about it! I'm going there right now!" Rufus snapped with a trembling voice; even though he was still trying to sound stern and unconcerned, his voice still revealed his worry. 

Vincent just kept on following after him. "The same thing happened to his parents…" he remembered silently.

On the trip to Junon, he received another call on his mobile phone. He answered it with a stiff tone, "Yes?"

It was the Captain of the Guards in Junon, "President Rufus," he began.

"How's everything in there? Did you find their bodies?" Rufus asked. Vincent wasn't sure if he had seen tears in Rufus's eyes because his friend turned away from him. Vincent just looked outside, watching the clouds, hoping that Tifa and the others are alright.

"The First Lady is still alive… but she's badly injured. Elena and Reno are fine but they are unconscious. The girl's got second-degree burns. As for your daughter…" 

"What about Tanya?" Rufus asked, cutting him off.

The Captain of the Guards in Junon was silent for a few seconds before he replied, "… my condolences, your Excellency. She wasn't able to make it."

Rufus's eyes widened in terror. It felt like his world suddenly shattered… and everything was starting to fall apart. 

"She was already dead when we found her." The Captain of the Guards continued.

Rufus did not say another word. He just hung up with a deep frown on his face, his blue eyes glistening with tears… but he tried not to let them fall. Not in front of Vincent or in the presence of any other person like the pilot and Rude who were seated at the front seats of the chopper.

He clenched his fists. "Vincent," he began with a trembling tone.

Vincent just looked at him. "Hmm?" he asked.

But Rufus couldn't go on. He knew that if he spoke further, he would just break down and cry. So he just kept quiet and refused to continue. Even as they arrived in Junon, he never said a single word…

…even when he was already in the hospital attending to Tifa who was still unconscious. 

She had bandages wrapped around her arms and legs, plus some wounds and gashes on her beautiful face.

He silently stared at her in silent sorrow, his cold exterior not working anymore to cover everything that he's feeling deep inside.

Vincent just accompanied his friend all the way, and he was also as speechless as he is.

Three days later, when Tifa regained consciousness, she was looking for her only daughter.

The question "How's Tanya?" made Rufus's tears return. He asked for Vincent to leave for a while and check on Elena and Reno.

Tifa knew that something was wrong. 

The moment Vincent got out, Rufus just stared at Tifa with a blank look on his face. "Our daughter is dead."

She gasped slightly and tears instantly filled her crimson eyes. She swallowed hard. "Wh…what?" she asked, her tears falling from her eyes.

He frowned at her and clenched his fists. "Stop crying!" he snapped angrily at her.

She felt her heart sink. "R…Rufus, I'm… I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have taken Tanya with me… please forgive me…" she stammered helplessly, wishing that she could sit up and go to him, but she couldn't even move.

Rufus blinked. "Wh…why are you saying that? I'm not blaming you!" he reasoned out.

"But…" she stammered.

"God, Tifa! You're so paranoid!" he said with a forced weak smile on his face before he came nearer to her, scooped her up in his arms and embraced her tightly as his tears fell from his blue eyes.

She sobbed. "But… Rufus, I… I…" she stammered.

"Shh… I know… I know… I'm not blaming you. You did nothing. I know that you love our daughter very much… but please, don't you ever blame yourself for what happened, please, because if you do, I'll also be blaming myself for forcing you to represent me here in Junon for a meeting." He told her reassuringly.

She slowly embraced him, ignoring the pain that surged through her body as she moved. She didn't say another word… her heart was already filled with too much anger, hatred and vengeance. She wanted to get well immediately and really search for her daughter's murderer…and the person who killed her father and her in-laws.

… and maybe Sephiroth.

"Sephiroth?" she thought silently, suddenly having an idea.

Scarlet.

"She was accused of killing Sephiroth…" she stopped her thoughts when she finally decided to tell Rufus, "I wish to speak to Scarlet."

He let go of her and slowly helped her to lie down again on the bed. "Why?" he asked.

"I don't believe that she's the one killing everyone who is making ShinRa live." She told him.

"What do you mean… making ShinRa live?" he asked, unsure of what to think of the situation. He couldn't really think clearly at that moment because of the inner grief and anger due to the sudden death of his daughter and the attempt to kill his wife too.

She swallowed hard. "I just noticed something… a certain pattern." She began.

He just looked down at her with a perplexed look on his face.

"My father was your father's general. He would risk everything for ShinRa's reputation. Then he died. You were forced to marry me because they thought that you impregnated me. Your father and mother are really doing a great job in maintaining the good reputation of the family name… then they died. Then when I finally really conceived for the first time, I almost died… and our son died too. Then there's Sephiroth investigating on the deaths… and he died too. Scarlet gets blamed for everything, and when she got imprisoned, nothing happened for around eight years… until three days ago. Someone attempted to kill me again, this time, with Tanya…"

"What's your point?" Rufus asked with a frown on his face.

"Someone's trying to finish off our family." She said with a trembling voice.

Rufus's eyes widened. "But…"

"Rufus, listen. In every perfect garden, there is always a bad seed attempting to destroy everything. In ShinRa, there is one or two of them. No one wants you or me around… maybe not even Cloud and Aerith…"

He turned away from her and rushed outside.

"Rufus!" she called out, not wishing for him to leave because she doesn't know what's going on in his mind. But she still couldn't move too much. "Is he even listening to me?" she wondered silently as tears fell from her eyes.

            Vincent looked up at Rufus as he remained seated on the couch outside the hospital room of Tifa. Rufus's blue eyes were wide, as if he was shocked.

"Anything wrong, Rufus?" Vincent asked.

Rufus looked at Vincent with a frantic expression in his eyes. "Go back to ShinRa and warn Cloud secretly that someone is planning to kill each and every one of us in ShinRa. Please don't tell the executives, but I want your Turks to guard Cloud, Aerith and my nephew Ares all the time. You take Lucrecia and Sephiroth to the ShinRa Mansion in Nibelheim and make them stay there until I say that they can leave. Just tell the executives that I'm going on a vacation and won't be coming back until Tifa is well. Tell them that she's gone insane and that I'm also having a nervous breakdown because I keep having hallucinations of my dead daughter. Close all entry points of Junon and no one else is allowed to leave this place besides you. Is that understood?" he explained.

Vincent blinked as he stood up. "Yeah, but… why?" he asked in confusion.

"A matter of life and death. I have to protect myself and my family… and my friends… and all those who support ShinRa." Rufus explained with a slight smile on his face before patting Vincent's shoulder. "I'm counting on you, Vinny." He said.

Vincent smiled at him before saluting. "Sure." He replied before he went off.

============================================== 

Author's note: I'm beginning to get bored….. :-( *goes back to playing Ragnarok…*


	11. Cloud and Aerith

-Eleven: Cloud and Aerith-

            "I just don't understand what happened… it's so unexpected, Vincent," Lucrecia told her husband as they were on the chopper going to Nibelheim.

Sephiroth was just seated quietly beside his mother with a stiff look on his face and damp eyes. 

Vincent noticed the sadness in Sephiroth's side, but did not say anything about it… even though he knows that Sephiroth likes Tanya very much and had sworn to always protect her. The little boy cried upon hearing the news about Tanya's death and was overly-worried about Tifa's current condition… and he didn't fail to notice that Sephiroth's eyes seemed to burn with too much anger when they ran into Hojo in the hallway while on their way to the lobby.

Sephiroth sniffed as he leaned against his mother's shoulder and sought for her embrace. Lucrecia smiled sadly at her son and embraced him gently. "Oh, Sephiroth… don't worry, I'm sure Tanya is in a better place now…" she said gently with a sad smile on her face.

Sephiroth patted Vincent's shoulder with a reassuring look on his face. "Your mother's right, Sephy." He said reassuringly.

But to their surprise, Sephiroth spoke up with an angry tone, "Hojo killed her…"

Silence.

"What?" Vincent asked.

But Sephiroth didn't repeat it. He just cried.

Vincent and Lucrecia exchanged confused looks with each other as they listened quietly to their son sobbing helplessly.

            Cloud was standing by the window of the President's Office, looking at the whole of Midgar from where he is. He was wondering what would happen if he was the one who inherited everything instead of Rufus. And now that he is the Vice-President of the ShinRa Electric Power Company, he was thinking that he shouldn't be there; instead, he should be having fun somewhere… it's not that living in a place like Midgar is such a bad thing for him, he just imagined before he became the Vice-President that he and Aerith will leave ShinRa with their son and then live someplace else… some other place where it is peaceful and quiet… like Nibelheim.

But he changed his mind when his parents died. "Rufus needs me," he realized at that time.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of the gloomy rain clouds hovering above the whole of Midgar. "…Especially now." He whispered softly.

"Cloud," Aerith called out from the doorway of the Office.

He instantly turned to her. "Yeah?" he asked.

She closed the door before approaching him. "I'm really disturbed about our current situation… it's like it's unsafe to stay here any longer." She began.

"Are you saying that we should go to Nibelheim too?" he asked.

"Not really… because if we do, we'll all get obvious. Someone has to take charge of this place or else they could just take over without any warning." She replied with a worried look on her face.

"You're right… but I really don't feel so comfortable around this place anymore… you think maybe we should send Ares to Nibelheim too?" he asked.

"Hojo might get suspicious; that's the last thing I'd like to happen." Aerith replied as she embraced Cloud from behind and sighed heavily. "I'm scared," she admitted.

He was silent for a while before asking, "Of what?"

She just closed her eyes and leaned her head against his back. "…everything that's happening around us," she replied softly.

"You don't seem scared," he pointed out softly as he touched her hands and caressed them gently and lovingly.

She smiled against him. "…because you're with me now. If I'm downstairs and you're not with me, that's when I feel scared." She explained.

"Don't be ridiculous, Aerith. You know how to defend yourself," he pointed out with a joking tone.

"Cloud?! How could you say that? Of course I know how to, but sometimes… I just get weak when I think that the others do not appreciate you." She told him.

He frowned. "So you've heard of those too…" he whispered softly.

She didn't move. "Cloud, why didn't you keep _ShinRa as your surname?" she asked._

"I'd also like to honor the people who took care of me when I was a child… but still, I am a _ShinRa_ by blood. I am Rufus's brother. But don't get me wrong, I'm also grateful to my real parents for taking time to find me and take me back here again. The problem is, I just can't understand why I got lost, and they even thought that I was kidnapped!" he told her.

"Kidnapped?" she asked in disbelief.

"But I knew that those executives took me and then threw me out of ShinRa when I was just a newborn baby… at least that's what Mr. Strife had mentioned to me because he saw Heidegger." He told her.

"What?! But… why? Why would they even throw you out of ShinRa?" she asked.

"Probably because that's the start of everything… they didn't want an heir so that everything will go to them once father dies. Unfortunately, there's Rufus. Mother really guarded him with all her life so that no one could come near him. She did a great job, I guess… and maybe as he was growing up, they already knew that it would be so hard and almost impossible to get rid of Rufus because he seems to be aware of his surroundings even though he just stays quiet in one place." Cloud explained.

Aerith frowned. "But why would those executives do that?" she asked.

"Hojo, Heidegger, Scarlet and Palmer. Reeve's out of the question. Notice that he's the only one without the salary deduction?" he asked.

Aerith nodded. "I see…" she told him.

"Gyahahahaha! I don't mean to interrupt your lovey-dovey moment, Sir Cloud,"

Cloud and Aerith literally jerked upon hearing the oh-so annoying voice of General Heidegger. Aerith immediately let go of Cloud upon her surprise. They both turned to Heidegger who was already standing a few meters away from them. Cloud frowned at him. "Don't you know how to say _excuse me?" he asked with a sarcastic tone._

"Gyah… pardon me, sir," Heidegger replied plainly as if he isn't afraid of Cloud's authority.

Not wishing to get angry further at Heidegger, Cloud just shooed him away. "Get outta here! And don't come back unless I tell you!" he snapped impatiently.

"Gyah! I have a report sir… I…"

"Shut up! Shoo! Get out of here!" Cloud snapped with an annoyed look on his face.

Aerith could tell that he was suddenly angry but she didn't ask anymore… she knew the reason. Cloud simply hated Heidegger because he knew that the fat bastard thinks that he isn't capable of being a leader of ShinRa. Heidegger did not really trust Cloud and wouldn't accept the fact that he is Rufus's older brother. "Gyah… this Cloud is such a social-climber. Rufus is having a nervous breakdown because of his insane wife and now he's stuck in Junon and then this spiky-headed jerk has basically taken over ShinRa … Gyah!" Heidegger thought angrily to himself as he marched out of the President's Office.

Cloud clenched his fists and turned away. "Aerith," he began stiffly.

"Y…yes, Cloud?" she asked.

"We'll do some investigating." He told her.

She smiled slightly and nodded. "I'm ready," she told him.

            Hojo was laughing all by himself inside his laboratory while he continued to label some of his new plant specimens. "At last! President Rufus is going to fall sooner or later. He couldn't bear the thought of losing his one and only daughter, and maybe in the near future, his beloved wife." He thought happily.

He stared at the plant inside the jar and smiled at it. "Hahahahaha! I made a mistake! He doesn't love her! He's just using her! The reason why he's having a nervous breakdown is that he is beginning to think that his 'empire' is falling apart! Hahahahaha!" he spoke to it.

If the plant could speak, it would really cuss at him. Unbelievably, for Hojo, it just wilted.

Hojo stopped laughing and frowned, staring unbelievably at the plant. "What the… how did my precious specimen died?" he thought silently before reaching out for his notepad to take down notes.

"Professor Hojo,"

The voice was music to his ears. He smiled sweetly before turning around to see Aerith standing by the doorway of the laboratory entrance. "Well, hello there, Mrs. Strife." He greeted.

She smiled weakly at him.

He examined the look on her face. "Why, you look sad, ma'am. Is there anything wrong?" he asked as he approached her.

She just bowed down her head and sighed heavily. "I… I feel so weird… like there's a stirring feeling deep inside of me that I can't understand… I keep hearing strange voices in my head and… they don't sound like the usual voices that I hear…" she explained as she placed her hands behind her back and slouched.

Hojo stopped himself from smiling further. "Hahahahaha. The Cetra has fallen into my trap at last! With careful planning, I can finally continue my experiment regarding Cetra." He thought silently as he took her hand. "Well, Mrs. Strife, come over here and take a seat first and tell me all about it. After all, I also studied Medicine. Hahahahaha." He told her as he led the way to a laboratory table with some chairs surrounding it. 

They sat down facing one another.

"And where do you suppose is this feeling coming from?" he asked her.

She thought for a while. "I'm not really sure… but sometimes, I feel so nauseous every morning… and I just started craving for sour fruits like the unripe green mangoes from tropical countries like Costa del Sol… and then just this morning, I threw up." She explained with a sluggish tone.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my! I think you are going to have another baby! Hahahahaha!" he said, suddenly rejoicing. "Hmm… if I can't have their eldest son as a specimen, I can just get the new fetus." He thought silently.

Aerith's face suddenly lit up with happiness. "R…really?" and then she appeared disappointed again. "But… are you sure? I mean, I never experienced these symptoms before with Ares," she explained with a weary voice.

Hojo got up and patted her shoulder. "Hahahahaha. Well, pregnancies can be different, you know?" he asked.

Aerith smiled happily. "Oh, thank you, Professor Hojo. Do you think that you can take care of me and my new baby?" she asked happily.

"Hahahahaha. Of course, ma'am. Of course. It's my job! Hahahahaha." Hojo told her.

"What's so funny?" she asked with a curious look on her face.

"Huh?" Hojo asked as he stopped laughing.

She got up from her seat and got his hand. "Oh never mind! C'mon, let's announce this wonderful news to Cloud! I'm sure he's going to be happy!" she said happily as she dragged him along with her.

"Wha?! Mrs. Strife, I don't think I should…"

"Oh, c'mon! Let's go to his office!" she told him happily.

Not wanting to get obvious of his plans, Hojo just agreed with Aerith.

Moments later after they had boarded the elevator, Reeve and Cloud immediately got out of their hiding place (inside the room full of cadavers) and rushed to the center of the laboratory where Hojo's accessories and other stuff were located.

"Goodness! That place really stinks!" Reeve said.

"I know. Stop complaining." Cloud muttered as he began to search for files in Hojo's database.

Reeve began to do his own work. "Gee, Sir Cloud, your wife can pass as an actress… but… is she really pregnant right now?" he asked.

"I don't know," Cloud shrugged before proceeding to read the files and other documents. His eyes widened in shock upon seeing the names _Sephiroth and __Lucrecia Valentine under the file JENOVA. "Shit…" he muttered._

"What's wrong?" Reeve asked as he approached Cloud.

Cloud's frown deepened as he proceeded to read.

Reeve proceeded to the other computer where he accessed Hojo's journal… "Goodness," he muttered.

But they couldn't continue to read anymore because everything was just unbearable. What they had in mind was, Hojo is really crazy and that he is a criminal.

On their way out of the laboratory, Cloud was muttering, "So he wants ShinRa down, eh?"

But before they boarded the elevator, they almost panicked because Hojo was returning. "SHIT!" Cloud cursed as he hid behind a tall potted plant and pushed Reeve behind a tall post.

Hojo almost saw Reeve if he didn't hide himself completely after Cloud had pushed him behind the tall post. 

Luckily for Cloud, the leaves of the plant were already yellowish because nobody bothers to water it and it was already dying… probably because Hojo is also experimenting on it; so his hair was concealed behind it.

Hojo was humming a demented tune which made them cringe behind their hiding places. Finally, Hojo entered his laboratory.

Both Cloud and Reeve sighed in relief. "That was close," the latter said as he stepped out of his hiding place.

Cloud quickly stepped out from behind the tall potted plant and dusted himself. "Go back to your office. I'll just go back to Hojo." He told him.

"Yes, sir." Reeve responded before running off, though he was wondering what Cloud would still do in Hojo's laboratory.

With that, Cloud proceeded back to the laboratory and just barged in. "Hojo," he called out.

Hojo jumped up in surprise before shutting down the monitor of his PC. "Yes, Sir Cloud?" he asked.

Cloud tried to appear hesitant so that Hojo will think that he has a problem. Then, he spoke up with a stiff tone, "You know, I've been thinking… since Rufus isn't here and I don't think he'll be returning for quite a lot of time and I'm in charge here… well, maybe you could tell me something about your proposed JENOVA project before?" he asked.

Hojo suddenly flashed this wide pleased smile on Cloud. "Hahahaha! Finally! Someone's agreeing! Does it mean that I don't have to work in secret anymore? Hahahahahahaha! With my JENOVA project, ShinRa will be well-known and I'll also be well-known!" he thought silently. "Why do you ask, Mister Strife, sir?" he asked.

Cloud had this impatient look on his face, "Well you know… the truth is, I think that Old Man and Rufus are both stupid for not thinking twice about this… and since I don't think my goody-goody little brother isn't going to be returning here and so that leaves me in charge here, I would like to take into consideration the project itself… and the use of Mako Energy too… Since we're cost-cutting right now, I'd like to implement the use of Mako Energy. After all you proposed that it's less expensive and that you already know how to extract it from Planet." He told him.

Hojo was overwhelmed, and since he was just quiet, Cloud proceeded to talk, "Both JENOVA and Mako could make all of us benefit here in ShinRa."

Hojo nodded victoriously. "Yes, yes, Mister Strife. Yes. I'm glad that you see my point!" he said.

Cloud patted Hojo's shoulder. "I'm counting on you, Hojo." He told him.

"When shall I start sir?" Hojo asked.

"Damn you, you've already started with JENOVA. Asshole," Cloud was thinking silently, but he still maintained a straight face, "I'd like to see first the effects of JENOVA to an unborn child." He told him.

Silence.

"If I tell him that I've used Sephiroth for it, he might think that I'm not following orders from before… oh well, I could use another specimen," Hojo thought silently. "That is a good proposal, Mister Strife, however, I do not have a pregnant woman as a specimen," he told him.

Cloud smiled rather slyly at him. "Well, you could use my wife." He said.

Hojo's mouth dropped open. "Are you sure, Mister Cloud?" he asked.

"I'm very sure! It's very simple! I'll impregnate her and then I'll take her to your laboratory ASAP!" Cloud pointed out, though deep inside, he felt so disgusted.

Hojo laughed victoriously. "That is so wonderful, Mister Cloud! Hahahahahaha! But not to worry because your wife already approached me just moments ago and complained about symptoms of pregnancy." He explained.

Cloud tried to act as if surprised, "Are you saying that Aerith is already pregnant?" he asked with a shocked tone.

"Yes, Mister Cloud! I don't need to check further on her; she is showing the right signs!" Hojo explained.

Cloud smiled victoriously, "Good! Good! Very good, Hojo! When do you need her?" he asked.

"You can bring her to me a month later." He told him.

Cloud nodded his head. "Thank you, Hojo. You're really a very intelligent person." He said before leaving.

The moment he got out of the laboratory, he was already frowning and he had this disgusted look on his face as he headed back to the President's office.

Aerith got up from the chair and smiled at Cloud. 

Cloud scratched his head. "I thought that you're supposed to make him wait here?" he asked.

"But he was insistent! He wanted to leave immediately because he said that he still has a lot of work to do." She explained with a disappointed look on her face.

"Oh well, never mind. I just talked to him anyway." He mentioned.

"So how was it?" she asked.

Cloud examined Aerith first by scanning her from head to toe before smiling weakly, "You're not really pregnant, are you?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him before laughing out loud. "Cloud, I was faking it! It's part of the plan, right? To make Hojo think that I'm pregnant!" she told him.

He shrugged. "Well, you just sounded so convincing back there!" he told her as he approached her and gave her a hug. 

"Why? Don't you want another little Cloud or a little Aerith?" she asked with a playful tone.

He blushed at what she said as he let her go and sat down on the President's seat. Aerith sat down on the couch facing the desk. "Anyway, we have a month to let Rufus know about what we're doing." He told her.

"But how are we going to go to Junon?" she asked.

Cloud knew that all entry-points to Junon have been shut down and he wondered if Rufus was really beginning to go crazy because he also ordered that no one is allowed to communicate with anyone in Junon. "We could wait until he sends Vincent back here." He told her.

"Can't we call him on his mobile phone?" she asked nervously, realizing that their situation was already beginning to get complicated, especially since the killer is just inside the laboratory.

"He also ordered all cell sites in Junon to shut down and all call centers not to take in calls from Junon and for everyone not to receive calls from there too." He explained.

"What?! Is Rufus crazy?!" Aerith asked with a frantic tone.

"The best thing we could do is wait for Vincent." Cloud told her.

"Cloud… if Hojo injects JENOVA into my bloodstream… and he finds out that I'm not pregnant, what will he do to me?" she asked nervously.

Cloud fell silent. "Didn't think of that…" he muttered, avoiding her gaze.

"CLOUD?!" she wailed.

"Okay, okay! We'll just run away from here so that he can't touch you, okay?" he asked with a weak smile on his face.

Aerith clenched her fists. "Can't we just get rid of that guy?" she asked.

"No, we can't. What if Heidegger and Palmer are also a part of this?" he asked.

Aerith just sighed heavily. "You're right… who's gonna do the investigating on those two?" she asked.

Cloud thought for a while before replying, "Looks like the dirty job's gonna be left to us as long as we're stuck here in Midgar."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Author's Note: to be continued………… I'll just be going through my Spanish Finals and then act for a local TV show before I sit back in front of my PC and continue writing this.


	12. Getting To Scarlet

-Twelve: Getting to Scarlet- 

            "How long has it been?" Tifa asked wearily as she remained seated on the bed. She had been allowed to check-out from the Junon Hospital a week after the accident and was already transferred to the main base in Junon where Rufus has his own quarters since he had been sent there to study before.  Comparing the quarters to the masters' bedroom in the ShinRa Mansion in Nibelheim and to their quarters in the ShinRa Main HQ in Midgar, the one in Junon is much smaller, but it was fine with Rufus.

The doctor had advised that she stay in bed for another week and not stress herself, but she was already beginning to get bored.

Rufus was standing by the window, watching the sunset. The room was already beginning to get dimmer by the minute but they didn't care. "I don't know." He replied simply, keeping his eyes on the setting sun.

She bowed down her head and did not say anything more.

Rufus looked at the waters and watched the sunrays glistening on the waves. "There's no use feeling sad, Tifa… however, we couldn't grieve so much for our daughter." He wanted to say out loud, but he couldn't find the right words to do so. He narrowed his eyes on the water. "How do you feel?" he asked her.

She just decided to lie down again and cover herself with their blanket.

"You should eat." Rufus told her. She hasn't been eating in three days already.

She ignored him.

He turned around to face her and watched her stare into empty space. He could tell that everything was just too traumatizing for her and it had affected her cheerfulness. He suddenly missed her smiles and her happy attempts to cheer him up, but now he would find himself to be the one to cheer her up… and nothing seems to be working. "Tifa," he began sternly.

She just stared into empty space.

He approached her and sat down on the bed by her side. "What's wrong with you? You're not yourself!" he told her with a scolding voice.

"Look who's talking…" she muttered miserably before sighing heavily.

He rolled his eyes.

"What's wrong with you? You act like our daughter's not important at all…" she pointed out with a trembling voice.

"Our daughter is important, Tifa, but we have to move on! We can't spend our entire lives grieving for her death!" he exclaimed.

She smiled bitterly. "I'm tired, Rufus." She said softly.

"Shut up, Tifa." He snapped.

"I want to die right now…" she said with a demented stare.

He frowned at her but he had this disturbed look on his face before he got up and left her with this thought in his head: "Shit… she's losing it!"

The moment Rufus got out of their bedroom, Tifa instantly got up from the bed with a stern look on her face. "Sorry I had to trick you, Rufus, but I want to interrogate Scarlet myself." She muttered as she put on her shoes and straightened out her clothes before rushing out of the room.

She tiptoed her way going to the Detention Cells which was located in the other building. The moment she entered the building, the guards were in awe upon seeing her. 

"M…Mrs. ShinRa… what are you doing here? You're not supposed to…"

"Let me through." She told them.

They all fell silent.

"You say a word to my husband about this and you'll get salary deductions." She sneered.

They stepped back and just pretended that they didn't see her. With that, she proceeded to the prison cells. When she got there, she talked to the guard, "I'd like to speak to Scarlet." She told the guard.

The guard stared unbelievably at the First Lady of ShinRa before nodding his head. "Yes, ma'am." He replied as he led the way to where Scarlet is imprisoned.

"Tifa, what are you doing here?"

Tifa stopped in her tracks when she heard Vincent's voice from behind her. She slowly turned to face him with a weak smile on her face. "Oh, hi, Vincent! How are you?" she asked casually.

"You're not supposed to be here," he pointed out.

"I know," she said flatly.

"Well then, what are you doing here?" he asked.

She scratched her head and turned back to the guard. "Well… I think I must be delirious… is this my room?" she asked.

Silence.

"No, ma'am." The guard replied with a blank look on his face.

Tifa laughed weakly before turning to Vincent. "Oh dear… I think I'm having hallucinations…" she began.

"You're not yet in the right condition to leave your room. Come, let's get you back to your room," Vincent took her hand and led her out of that place, back to her quarters in the other building.

She was just quiet, even as he left her there in the bedroom. She sighed heavily before going to the window, trying to see if Vincent already left. When she saw him walking away from the building, she ran back to the door and tried to open the door, but realized that Vincent had locked her in. "Why would he even do that?!" she exclaimed.

She grumbled and went over to the window, tried to open them but couldn't. She decided to punch the glass but nothing happened. "Man… this is abuse! They can't lock me inside this room forever!" she said out loud before giving the glass a hard kick, and then punched it again and again like it was a punching bag.

Nothing happened.

She was already panting. "Tanya's death is not going to drive me crazy, but this situation will really make me crazy!" she thought angrily before rushing over to the intercom and dialed the number of Rufus's office in Junon. After a few rings, Vincent answered, "Yes?"

"Where's Rufus?" she demanded.

"He doesn't want to be disturbed." He replied simply.

"Why the hell did you lock me up?" she demanded impatiently.

"For security reasons." Vincent replied.

"Why?" she asked in disbelief.

"You're having a nervous breakdown, Tifa, Just rest there." Vincent hung up.

She made a face. "I'm not having a nervous breakdown." She muttered before moving away and went to the door again. "How am I going to talk to Scarlet?" she thought miserably as she punched the door. Unfortunately, it was too thick.

She sighed miserably before looking around the room, trying to look for something to bash the door with… until she saw the air duct.

"Hmm…" a thought came into her head as she ran to it. It was located near the bathroom but she had to use a chair to climb up to it. She removed the grills and dropped them on the floor, making a loud CLANG noise which made her cringe. With that, she climbed up the air duct and started her way through it. "Damn it… it's so dirty…" she thought silently when she realized that the dust, dirt and grime were already staining her white skirt and her white blazer… not to mention, her hands. She made a face upon sniffing the disgusting smell. "Oh my God!" she stopped for a while to cringe slightly and mind off the smell before she proceeded in a much quicker pace.

"I'm sure all the air ducts in this building are connected to the air ducts to the other building. If I could get lucky, a passageway can lead me to Scarlet's cell… but where?" she thought silently as she stopped and realized that there were two passageways ahead of her. "Damn," she muttered.

She kept on crawling until she reached an end wherein she can see the area where Rufus would usually hang out in Junon. The sunset looked so beautiful in that place especially since it was accompanied by the gentle waves from the sea. She watched the sunset for a while, not realizing that there were two people in that room until she heard one of them speak, "I don't know what to do anymore…"

She turned her gaze downward to where this familiar blonde in a white suite was standing. Rufus. He was staring at the waters.

Vincent was standing beside him, also watching the waters.

"Why not?" Vincent asked.

Rufus looked up at the skies. "My family is suffering." He said.

Tifa frowned slightly. "Hmf… how come he trusts his friends more than he trusts me? I'm his wife! He should be telling me about his feelings too…" she thought miserably with a disappointed look on her face as she clenched her fists.

"The people of Midgar do not know anything. They just know that you're on vacation with your family. The employees of ShinRa are the ones whom I told of what you told me to tell them." Vincent replied.

"You just made it worse." Rufus muttered.

Vincent raised an eyebrow at him.

Rufus placed his hands inside his trouser pockets. "ShinRa looks so perfect on the outside. I'm the _perfect president. Everyone supports me despite the fact that I use fear for reinforcement… there are no rebels or terrorists… I have the _perfect_ wife; beautiful, extraordinary, charitable… the _perfect_ First Lady. I have the _perfect_ Vice President, which is my brother. _Perfect_. Everything is _perfect_. But what people do not know is that it's rotting inside. It's just the skin that they're seeing, not the inside." He explained with a serious but somewhat sarcastic tone. "I need to keep up this kind of image so that people wouldn't panic. Panic; that's the last thing I would like to happen… with panic, you cannot think clearly. You go insane. You have no direction in life." he said._

"You never thought of that before." Vincent pointed out.

Rufus smiled slightly before bowing down his head and stared at the waves. "She taught me." He said.

Tifa raised her eyebrows at him. "Who?" she thought silently.

Vincent turned to look at Rufus curiously.

"All those times that I had abandoned her, I thought that she would just fight back. Well, maybe she did fight back, and I realized that I couldn't handle her because she is stronger than me. Maybe not physically but emotionally. And now she's the one suffering…" Rufus flipped his hair, trying to keep cool. "Vincent, forgive me for telling you this, but… I never thought that she could become so dear to me. I thought that I would just be using her to build up a _perfect_ image for ShinRa, but then everything changed."

Vincent frowned slightly with a slight smile on his face. "Why would you even be apologizing?" he asked.

Rufus turned to Vincent with a slight blush on his face. "Well… I'm not really used to saying cheesy lines like these... Tifa told me that if I feel bad, I should talk to someone about it otherwise it will drive me crazy if I keep it all inside." He explained.

Vincent chuckled lightly and patted his friend's shoulder. "Well, typical Tifa. She does that too. She talks to Aerith, Lucrecia and Elena and sometimes, she calls Yuffie over the phone." He explained.

"So that's why she appears to be more relaxed than I am." Rufus muttered miserably.

"Well then thanks for trusting me, Rufus." Vincent said.

Rufus looked at him.

Vincent smiled gently before turning his gaze at the sunset. "Tifa loves you very much… even from the start. Sephiroth knew." He explained with a solemn tone.

"But how come she doesn't trust me?" Rufus asked with a pouting face.

"She trusts you, Rufus. You just don't know it." Vincent explained.

"No, I mean… why can't she tell her problems and her true feelings to me? She still consults her friends for it!" Rufus explained.

"Stalemate," Tifa thought silently, observing them quietly.

"You just need to show her that you care," Vincent told him.

"Aren't I showing it by being there for her? By giving her all the things that she wants? By giving her diamonds and money to spend and all sorts of gifts?" Rufus asked.

"Money isn't everything, Rufus." Vincent reminded him.

Tifa bowed down her head, feeling so disappointed. "I thought you'd understand, Rufus," she thought silently with a sad look on her face before turning away and continued her way through the air duct, going through the other passageway… and then saw a big spider blocking her way. "DAMMIT!" she cried out loud in annoyance; her voice echoing through the air ducts… and eventually, it got projected out of the air duct in Rufus's office.

Rufus and Vincent both turned around in surprise and then scanned the whole area. Rufus looked up at the ceiling, then toward the walls.

Vincent stared at the air duct. "Rufus, I think there's someone inside," he pointed out.

"Maybe it's just the wind." Rufus said blankly before turning away from the air duct and then turning back to the sunset. "You think I should check on her?" he asked.

"Yes, I think you should." Vincent urged, still keeping an eye on the air duct.

With that, Rufus went off. The moment he exited, Vincent proceeded to the air duct, pulled a foot stool with him and climbed up, removing the grills and then going inside.

Tifa sensed that someone was already inside. "Damn it… stupid spider… now I have to go the other way…" she thought silently before turning back and went through another passageway.

Moments later, Vincent reached the place where the big spider was. His eyes widened a little upon seeing it and he frowned slightly, narrowing his eyes on it. "Oh… maybe it's just one of those spiders capable of making noises." He thought silently before turning back and headed out of the air ducts.

However, when he got out, he realized that it was such a dirty place and cobwebs, dirt, grime and dust had soiled his suit, his hair, his hands and his face. "Hmf…" he dusted his right shoulder before replacing the grills against the air duct, and then jumped down from the foot stool and headed for the door, but he was surprised when the door burst open and Rufus had this frantic look on his face. "Tifa's gone!" he said in alarm.

Vincent's eyes grew wide. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"I thought you locked the friggin' door?!" Rufus demanded impatiently.

"I _did_ lock the door! Maybe she used the windows?" Vincent asked.

"No, she didn't. The windows are all locked; even the bathroom window is locked." Rufus explained.

They both fell silent.

"There's an air duct in your room?" Vincent asked.

Rufus thought for a while before nodding his head.

Vincent's eyes grew wide. "She must be inside!" he announced before running back to the air duct. 

"What?!" Rufus demanded.

Vincent ignored him as he stepped onto the footstool again and removed the grills.

"And what's up with your suit? You look so filthy and disgusting," Rufus pointed out with a disgusted look on his face.

"Your wife could be inside. Why don't you go and look for her?" Vincent asked.

"What?! Me?! Why me?! It's so disgusting in there!" Rufus snapped.

Vincent glared unbelievably at him.

Rufus flipped his hair. "I'll call security." He told him.

            "Shit… I think I'm lost…" Tifa thought miserably as she continued to crawl through the air duct passageways. She checked her watch and it was already 9 in the evening. She felt a little hungry and her hands, legs and her back were already aching. "And what if I get stuck in here?" she thought with a nervous look on her face.

As she came closer to another dead end, she could hear some men talking.

"You think the First Lady went really insane and left her husband because she couldn't take it anymore?"

"Too bad, she's such a pretty lady. I wish I had a wife like that,"

"Let's just get going, we need to keep on searching or else we'll get salary deductions!"

And then footsteps.

"I think Rufus thinks I ran away." She thought silently before she finally reached the dead end and peeked down, seeing a bed, a small sink and a toilet bowl.

Her eyes widened upon realizing that it was a prison cell. "Gods! I hope this is it!" she thought silently before taking a further look around the area of the prison cell… and standing by the closed door was a woman with long blonde hair wearing some prison garments.

She wasn't able to recognize her at first, but then realized that it was the person that she had been looking for.

Tifa smiled victoriously as she covered her own mouth to stop herself from gasping and giggling happily upon seeing Scarlet. But she looks so different already. "Gee… she looks better without the make-up." Tifa thought silently before slowly removing the grills while listening to Scarlet muttering, "Stupid guards. Ask them what's happening and they wouldn't answer…" she kept on peeking outside from the small window of the door, but she couldn't see any more guards in sight, except for the one standing at the main entrance. She frowned slightly before hearing the rattling of grills.

"Mice?" she thought silently before looking up at the ceiling. She gasped when she saw a dirty woman fall down from the air duct and then landed on the bed.

"Kyah!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Shh! It's me, Scarlet!" Tifa said reassuringly.

Scarlet stared in disbelief at Tifa. "Wh…who are you?" she asked.

Tifa turned to the mirror by the sink and saw that her face was dirty. "Oh," she said in surprise before heading for the sink and then started to wash her hands and her face. "It's me, Tifa," she said.

Scarlet's eyes widened, finally recognizing Tifa. "Y…you?!?" she cried out in surprise.

Tifa turned to face her. "Yes, it's me, please don't be too squeamish about this, I just need to talk to you." She said.

"Bu…but… but…" Scarlet kept on looking at the air duct, then back to Tifa, feeling confused.

Tifa smiled sheepishly. "It's the only way. Rufus thinks that I'm still mentally unstable so he wouldn't let me out of our room." She said.

"Right… mentally unstable…" Scarlet muttered, realizing what Tifa had done just so that she could go to her prison cell. "But… why would President Rufus even think that you are mentally unstable?" she asked with a frown on her face.

"Because our daughter died and he thinks I couldn't take it that well… but I need to talk to you regarding Hojo… because I think it was Hojo who killed our daughter." Tifa explained with a serious look on her face.

Scarlet was silent for a while, recalling everything from when she was still in ShinRa and had witnessed everything that Hojo tried to do to bring about the downfall of the ShinRa Empire.

"Even if I told you everything, you wouldn't believe me. No one would ever believe someone like me." Scarlet said with a hopeless smile on her face.

"Scarlet, if I did not believe you, do you think I'd be here right now?" Tifa asked.

Scarlet fell silent before sighing heavily. "Can this guarantee my freedom?" she asked.

"I cannot promise you anything but I will try to do anything _in my power_." Tifa said.

Scarlet laughed heartily, "Kyahahahahahaha!"

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

Scarlet stopped laughing and went to the bed, sat down and smiled slyly at Tifa, "You finally got brainwashed by the system. I never expected you to say something like that. You sound like the President already, Mrs. ShinRa." She said with a little sarcasm on her tone.

Tifa smiled calmly at her. "Further elaborating?" she asked.

"You already know how ShinRas get their way: through power. And it's in their very name… and it just gets enhanced by money, fear and charisma." Scarlet told her.

Tifa thought for a while and then shrugged. "I guess it just happens naturally if you love a ShinRa. You get the money and the power. You use fear for reinforcement. You have your own charisma to attract attention… it looks so perfect on the outside. It's all in my name now, but deep inside, it could never claim me. Same with Rufus. We are still free to do whatever we want… and I do my ShinRa stuff with modification." She explained.

Scarlet examined the look in Tifa's eyes. "She's matured so much… and I can see that President Rufus has matured too… through her…" she thought silently before smiling. "I get your point." She said softly.

Tifa sat down beside her, and with that, Scarlet began to explain…


	13. Getting the Message Sent to Rufus

Loving A ShinRa

By General Quistis

Author's note: Sorry for the… delay. I kinda lost interest in this one because of the names _Ares, Tanya_, etc… and I got so used to _Sora_ et. al. Anyway... here is the 13th chapter...

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Thirteen: Getting the Message Sent to Rufus-

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Rufus kept on pacing back and forth from his desk to the window and back. He had his hands inside his coat pockets and he had this stiff look on his face… even though his eyes easily showed the worry and franticness that he was feeling deep inside.

His heart was really beating fast and he looked paler than usual… and he was frowning.

He stopped pacing when Vincent returned. He just scanned the blank look on Vincent's face.

Vincent shook his head.

Rufus rolled his eyes impatiently and fell back on his own chair before raking his fingers repeatedly through his blonde hair; Vincent was expecting him to cuss out loud with a growling tone, but to his surprise, he did not say anything. He just kept quiet and slowly covered his face with his gloved hands in an impatient gesture. He sighed heavily before removing his hands from his face and looking at Vincent with a stiff look on his face. "I don't know, Vincent… just leave me alone for a while." He said softly with a tone that seemed to falter.

Vincent stood still for a second before nodding his head and then leaving the room with a solemn look on his face.

Different things were whirling around Rufus's mind as he kept on staring into empty space, and among those were:

Tifa must've really gone insane and killed herself somewhere. She must've hated me and couldn't take it anymore so she just left me because she thinks I don't give a damn about her. She's just somewhere in the air ducts. Maybe she is just running around… and then accidentally jumped into the ocean and drowned… and killed herself, eventually. Yeah, she's just somewhere in the air ducts… and got stuck inside… and couldn't get out anymore… and spiders and cockroaches scared her to death and now they're already eating up her corpse along with some big fat black rats. She hates meh! 

Rufus stopped his thoughts and bit his lower lip. "No…" he thought with a frantic look in his eyes before grasping his own head with his hands. "How can she hate me? She cannot hate me… she can never hate me… I know that I'm a selfish asshole but…" his eyes widened upon realizing that he was already crying.

He just smiled bitterly before covering his face with his right hand and then continued to cry. No one was there anyway to see him crying…

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"The coast is clear," Scarlet announced in a whispery tone as she took a peek outside her cell through the little window on her cell's door.

Tifa positioned herself in her fighting stance. "Stand back!" she said. Scarlet stepped aside and watched as Tifa kicked the door open.

Scarlet was in awe upon seeing Tifa do that. "Kyah! I can't even kick like that!" she thought.

"Well… looks like these doors are not meant for people who can do martial arts but just for weak employees." Tifa said.

Silence.

"Are you referring to me?" Scarlet asked with a suspicious tone.

Tifa just ignored her, not wanting to start a fight. True, Scarlet could've just kicked the door open… or maybe she's just too dumbfounded regarding her situation to even think of that. Tifa stifled a laugh before stepping out of the cell. "There's a passageway at the back, we'll go that way and take one of Rufus's yachts so that we can cross the ocean and get back to Midgar." She explained.

"Kyah… this is very dangerous, you know that!" Scarlet said with a nervous look on her face.

"Relax! No one will harm you. Leave it all to me if they accuse you of escaping." Tifa said with a wink before she led the way.

Scarlet nervously bit her lower lip before following after Tifa. "Kyah! But…" she stammered.

Tifa stopped running before the next hallway and signaled for Scarlet to stop too because someone was approaching.

Vincent.

"Oh bloody brilliant…" Tifa thought silently to herself in annoyance as her eyes widened in surprise. She stepped back.

Vincent passed by, looking straight ahead, his mind seemed to be filled with thoughts.

Tifa and Scarlet watched silently as he climbed up a flight of stairs leading to the guards' office. They both sighed in relief. "Thank goodness!" Tifa said softly before proceeding.

They had to pass through one of the windows so that they could get out, and luckily, even if all the Soldiers were scattered around the place, they never saw the two women escaping Junon…

Until they reached the docks.

There were around five second-class soldiers hiding behind some posts near the yacht, as if waiting for intruders… and they just popped out from their hiding places, blocking Tifa and Scarlet's way.

Tifa's eyes widened as she gasped in surprise, while Scarlet let out a surprised, "KYAH!"

The five soldiers were in awe upon seeing Tifa. "M…Mrs. ShinRa!" they all cried out in surprise.

Scarlet hid behind Tifa.

One of the soldiers frowned upon seeing Scarlet, "Hey, isn't that…" he began.

"You don't have to say her name, I know who she is. Now stand aside if you don't want to get hurt," Tifa warned with a threatening tone as she eyed them carefully.

"But… ma'am… does the President know?" he asked.

"He doesn't have to know." She replied coldly before deciding to cast fire on each of them, sending them diving into the cold ocean water just to put out the flames.

Tifa and Scarlet ran aboard the yacht immediately, but there were two first class soldiers aboard guarding the place.

"You take the other one!" Scarlet told her before slapping the face of the other soldier.

Tifa was about to attack the other one when he pulled out a gun and aimed at her. "Mrs. ShinRa, where are you going with the prisoner?" he demanded rather harshly.

She bit her lower lip as tears filled her eyes. She began to cry and covered her face. She bawled and sobbed continuously, stunning the two soldiers and Scarlet.

"Oh… I… I'm sorry…" the soldier said sheepishly.

"Kyah! Shame on you, you made her cry! You're going to receive capital punishment from President Rufus! Kyahahahahaha!" Scarlet snapped before she kicked the two soldiers where the sun doesn't shine, making them scream in pain and agony.

Tifa stopped with her acting and began to punch them continuously until they were pushed out of the yacht. The two fell into the ocean, screaming.

Tifa immediately ran towards the control room while Scarlet busily kept the others away. In a few moments, the yacht began to move. Scarlet almost lost her balance because it was too fast. "KYAH! Does she even know how to drive this thing!" she cried out in surprise as she grabbed the railing for support. She jerked and ducked when the soldiers started to fire.

"KYAH! Hurry up, will ya!" Scarlet screeched at Tifa.

"I am trying, okay?" Tifa called back with an unsure tone.

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Rufus turned his gaze towards the intercom when he heard it ringing. He went over to his desk and pressed one of the buttons on the intercom. "What?" he demanded sternly.

"Your Excellency! The First Lady… she took your yacht with one of the prisoners!" a soldier announced to him frantically.

Rufus's eyes widened in shock, but he was unable to speak.

"Sir? Are you still there?" the soldier asked after a few moments of silence.

Rufus snapped back to his senses from the severe shock he had experienced from the news. He clenched his fists as he growled angrily at the intercom, "What the bloody hell are you saying? Which prisoner?"

"Scarlet, sir."

"WHAT?" he growled in further shock.

He felt the room spinning around himself, but he tried to control himself. "Why the bloody hell would Tifa even take Scarlet with her?" he thought silently before telling the guard, "Where are they heading for?"

"We… we don't know, sir… but when they left the docks, their direction was… heading for Midgar."

Rufus froze. "Midgar?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

Rufus's frown deepened. "Send Mister Valentine here in my office immediately," he instructed sternly.

"Sir, yes, sir!" and the soldier hung up.

Rufus pressed the same button and sighed heavily. He turned back to the window, gazing at the night sky. "Tifa, why are you doing this to me?" he thought silently with a hurtful look in his blue eyes.

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"Kyah! Can you even drive this thing? I think we're near Costa del Sol instead of Midgar!" Scarlet scolded nervously.

"Don't worry, Scarlet, I know how to read the compass and the map. We're heading for Midgar." Tifa said with a wink. She sounded so relaxed and it made Scarlet more worried than before. "Kyah! That's what I'm worried about… you _know_ how to read the map." She muttered miserably with a sarcastic tone.

Tifa raised an eyebrow, "Would you like me to send you back to prison once we reach Midgar? I'll even let Hojo experiment on your organs!" she warned with a joking tone, but Scarlet took it seriously, "KYAH! No, thank you, Mrs. ShinRa." She responded, feeling a little disgusted when she mentioned the name _Hojo_

"I was only kidding. Will you just call me _Tifa_? I want us to become friends." Tifa said with a sweet smile on her face.

"Kyah… if President Rufus finds out about that, he'll strangle me. He'd never want his _ever-beloved_ wife to make friends with someone like me. Kyah….." Scarlet muttered as she leaned against the wall, watching Tifa steer the yacht's wheel to the right rather carefully.

Tifa removed her gaze from the map and turned to look at Scarlet, "Why would he even do that? He doesn't even give a damn about me anyway, so he wouldn't care if I had friends, even if they were once convicted for murder that they did not even do… or even if they're maniacs from Sector 7." She explained.

"Kyah… Mrs. ShinRa, you're so kind… I hope you change President Rufus." Scarlet responded with a disappointed look on her face.

"What do you mean _change_ Rufus?" Tifa asked, turning back to the map and then the compass.

"Well… maybe you know that I never liked you before… but I really do appreciate your arrival in President Rufus's life… you and Aerith. That's why I tried to save the lives of your children before when Hojo tried to kill them because he doesn't want an heir. But from what I have observed, President Rufus has remained cold and uncaring… Aerith was the one who made Cloud stay the same. If he got together with a stuck-up rich girl, he could be like Rufus right now too…"

"So are you saying that I'm not a good wife?" Tifa asked stiffly.

"No, Mrs. ShinRa! I just didn't see a change in Rufus yet. He's still the same…" Scarlet explained rather plainly.

Tifa just smiled slightly. "I think he changed… he just doesn't want to show it." She told her before turning her gaze straight ahead, seeing some lights shining far from where they are. "We'll be in Midgar in a few moments," she announced.

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It was four in the morning when the intercom just rang several times, enough to wake up both Cloud and Aerith. "Wha…what's going on?" Aerith asked sleepily as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

Cloud groggily reached for the answer button and pressed it, "What?" he demanded impatiently.

"Sir, it's President Rufus's yacht… it arrived!" Heidegger explained.

Cloud was suddenly awake. "His yacht?" he asked.

"But there's no one in it! The Soldiers by the docks and the Coast Guard said that it arrived an hour ago but when they inspected it, there was no one inside." Heidegger said with a nervous tone.

He frowned, getting suspicious. "I'll go there myself, but in the meantime, you inspect for bombs or any explosives inside. This could be a trap," he explained before hanging up.

Aerith blinked and then switched on the lamplight. "You're going there?" she asked in awe.

"Yes, Aerith. I have to." He replied before he got out of bed.

"But… what is Rufus's yacht doing here? It's impossible that it just drifted off from Junon's shore and then ended up here," she pointed out.

"I know… that's why I'm going to find out for myself now," he told her before proceeding to the bathroom to get dressed.

Aerith also got up, but she was interrupted when someone just knocked on the door.

"Mommy!"

She instantly rushed to the door upon hearing the voice of her son, Ares. She opened the door and then the little boy rushed inside. "Mommy, please come to my room," he said softly.

"Why?" she asked as she knelt down so that she could take a good look at his face.

He leaned closer to his mother and whispered, "It's Auntie Tifa. She's in my room with Miss Scarlet."

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"Kyah… are you sure no one saw us here?" Scarlet asked nervously.

"I hope so…" Tifa muttered as she looked around the room. It is a child's room, alright, and it reminded her so much of her own daughter, but she tried hard not to think about her problems for a while. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door slowly opened and her nephew stepped inside with a sweet smile on his face.

Tifa smiled sweetly and welcomed her nephew with open arms. "Ares," she said softly. The little boy ran to her and embraced her. "I missed you, Aunt Tifa." He said sweetly.

Scarlet's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Aerith entering. "Mrs. Strife," she began.

Tifa let go of Ares and turned to her cousin. "Aerith," she said happily before she ran to her.

"Oh, Tifa, you're here!" Aerith said happily as they embraced.

Ares watched his mother and his auntie with a smile on his face before turning to Scarlet. He blinked. "What is she doing here anyway, Auntie?" he asked.

"Kyah…" Scarlet reacted in annoyance. She had to admit, the kid is a brat without his parents noticing it. Tifa just smiled at her nephew. "Well… Scarlet is here to help us. She knows who the bad man is," she explained.

"Really?" Ares asked before turning to Scarlet, staring at her from head to toe. "Hmm… she still doesn't look nice," he said frankly.

"KYAH!" Scarlet reacted in shock. Aerith hugged her son away from Scarlet with a weak smile on her face. "There, there, Ares… you should stop judging people by their appearance!" she said gently.

Scarlet tried to calm herself down as Tifa spoke up, "Where's Cloud?"

"He's inspecting the yacht that docked in the Pierre. Don't tell me you navigated that thing going back here! Does Rufus even know that you're here?" Aerith asked in disbelief.

"No. I had to escape. If I stayed there, the more we won't be able to get to the bottom of this issue. Scarlet knows who's behind all those deaths and corruption." Tifa explained. Aerith turned to Scarlet. "You do?" she asked in awe.

Scarlet nodded. "I've seen it, I learned about it… and I was blamed for things that I didn't even do. The problem is, Hojo wouldn't let me say it to President Rufus or to any one of you." She explained.

"And Rufus wouldn't listen well to us because Hojo must be trying to do something stupid like keeping him busy so that he wouldn't have time to hear out what we have to say." Tifa added.

"Well then, I think we should get to work right away if we want to save time… and if we want to save more lives." Aerith explained with a determined look on her face.

"But first, never let Cloud or anybody else know that Scarlet and I are here, alright?" Tifa told her. Aerith nodded. "Got it." And turned to her son. Ares just nodded. "Don't worry, mom, Auntie Tifa! I won't tell anyone." He told them.

Tifa smiled sweetly at her nephew before turning back to Scarlet. "What's your plan?" she asked.

"We expose all the evidence that Hojo is behind all of this." Scarlet told them before bowing down her head, "But if worst comes to worse, we should not hesitate to kill that bastard…" she said.

Aerith began to feel nervous as she nodded. "But we have to tell Rufus…" she said softly.

The women were silent for a while, thinking of a way to let Rufus know without Hojo detecting that one of them did it.

"Looks like one of us should risk her neck for it…" Scarlet muttered.

"I think you should go back to Junon first, Tifa." Aerith began.

"Nah. I'll hide here for a while." Tifa replied.

"What about me?" Scarlet exclaimed in panic.

"Don't worry, you'll be hiding here too. No one will know that we're here." Tifa said.

"You mean you're going to stay in this room?" Aerith asked in awe.

"Exactly!" Scarlet piped in, an idea forming in her head. Tifa and Aerith exchanged glances before turning to Scarlet.

"Kyah. This is what we're going to do…" Scarlet began.

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To be continued...


	14. The Booboo

Loving a ShinRa

By generalquistis

-Chapter14: The Booboo-

"No one's on the yacht, Rufus." Cloud repeated for the 10th time during his conversation with Rufus via their mobile phones fifteen minutes after he arrived at the port. He was getting impatient already because of his brother, but he was glad nonetheless that he has agreed to reactivate all sorts of communication between Midgar and Junon.

"Well I could've sworn the Soldiers here told me that Tifa got in there with Scarlet." Rufus told him.

"I've checked already, Rufus. But…" Cloud began, but Rufus interrupted, "Why don't you go check on HQ. Knowing Tifa she's already there. I don't know what she wants but… I'm sure it has something to do with me or you or whoever high-up we have here in ShinRa." Rufus told him.

"Rufus, tell you what; why don't you just drop by here and scout the area yourself?" Cloud suggested.

"That's exactly what I'm going to do after I end this call." Rufus told him before hanging up.

Cloud grunted and turned to the yacht again. "Well… nothing here, boys." He told the other Soldiers who were searching the area. "I'll be going back to HQ. I want several of you to remain here and guard the area until the President arrives from Junon." He instructed before turning back towards HQ.

The moment he got inside HQ, he went straight to his office. He was beginning to get sleepy again but he knew he had to wait for his brother to arrive and help him look for his wife before he could sleep soundly again. "And why would Tifa even escape Junon with Scarlet?" he was thinking to himself as he entered his office, only to be surprised by the presence of Aerith standing by his desk with her hands behind her back and looking restless about something.

"Aerith?"

She smiled uneasily at him, "Cloud, I…" she began, but Hojo arrived with some papers. "Sir," he called out.

Cloud turned to Hojo with a frown on his face, "Yes?" he asked.

"My report regarding JENOVA." Hojo told him proudly as he handed the papers to him.

Cloud stared uneasily at the papers. "…isn't it an unholy hour for you to be still awake and submitting your report about JENOVA?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep. I want to get things done immediately." Hojo reasoned.

Cloud was quiet as he walked over to his desk and placed the papers there. "Good." Was all he said before motioning for Hojo to leave.

Hojo did not move. He just stood there, staring at them as if he's suspecting something.

"Well, aren't you going back to your laboratory?" Cloud asked rather impatiently.

Hojo stepped forward and asked in a solemn tone, "What is going on outside, sir? How come there are Soldiers by the port and the President's yacht is here?"

Cloud turned away and went to the window, looking outside, "Intruders. They must have stolen the President's yacht and took it here." He said.

"Who do you think those are?" Hojo asked.

Aerith turned to Cloud. "I think he's suspecting something, Cloud," she was thinking to herself in silence.

"Probably prisoners who escaped Junon. Now go. I have to discuss something with my wife." Cloud told him in annoyance.

Hojo did not move. He just stood there, staring suspiciously at Cloud. "Personal matters?" Hojo asked coolly.

Cloud and Aerith exchanged glances before turning back to Hojo. "Yes." Cloud told him.

Hojo just smiled calmly at them. "Alright." He turned around to leave but stopped when he saw Sephiroth standing by the doorway and staring angrily at him. "Oh… hello there young Valentine." He greeted the child, trying to sound pleasant.

Sephiroth walked over to him, dragging the Masamune by his side.

The adults were shocked to see the little boy holding the late great Sephiroth's sword. "Where… where did you get that, young man? You shouldn't be holding those sharp objects!" Hojo snapped at him.

"Sephiroth, let go of the Masamune. It doesn't belong to you! It belongs to… Sephiroth." Aerith instructed sternly, though her voice was trembling, fearful for the child's safety.

"Oh yeah? Well who is Sephiroth?" Sephiroth demanded from them.

"He's dead and I don't think he would like it if a child just got his Masamune and then started using it for his own sake…" Cloud began, but Sephiroth glared at him.

"Oh you can't recognize your old friend in this cursed body of a child?" Sephiroth sneered before turning back to Hojo.

What Hojo heard shocked him. "No… this is not true! You cannot be reincarnated!" he snapped.

"You should start believing in a God, moron." Sephiroth swung the blade, but Hojo had managed to dodge because he had been anticipating the attack ever since he saw the boy move towards him.

"Oh my goodness! Sephiroth, no!" Aerith wailed in panic, thinking if she should call Lucrecia or not.

But the boy wouldn't listen to her… or to anybody else.

Cloud instantly went to the boy, avoiding the Masamune's blade and then grabbed the boy from behind, lifting him up and twisting the boy's right wrist so that he would let go of the Masamune. The long sword fell to the ground and Sephiroth was kicking the air, trying to hit Cloud with his legs since his hands are being held together by him. "ACK! Lemme go! You don't understand! That asshole killed me! And he murdered Tanya! I'm going to kill him NOW! Let me go, Cloud!" the boy screamed in anger.

Cloud and Aerith were shocked by what they heard.

Hojo sneered at the boy as he pulled out his gun and aimed at him. "You are such a big liar… didn't your mother ever tell you that liars go to hell?" he defended.

"Look who's talking, bastard!" Sephiroth snapped back harshly at him.

Feeling too offended this time, Hojo was ready to pull the trigger, but he felt something hit the back of his neck… something hard. And then excruciating pain which flowed from his spine up to his brain and to his whole body followed… and the last thing he saw was the dumbfounded looks on Cloud and Sephiroth's faces.

Cloud, Aerith and Sephiroth watched as Hojo fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Oh my God…" Aerith let go of the poker used for the fireplace and she covered her mouth in shock.

Cloud instantly let go of Sephiroth and he approached the unconscious scientist who was lying flat on his stomach. "What did you do?" he asked in shock.

Sephiroth stared wide-eyed at the blood trickling down from the back of Hojo's neck, staining his white laboratory jacket and the white floor itself. "Haha! Looks like you killed him, Aerith." He told her with a victorious look on his face.

"Oh my God! No! I killed a person?" Aerith's eyes were filled with tears.

Silence.

She snorted and dismissed the tearful moment. "Oh well." She shrugged as she turned to Cloud. He was staring strangely at her. "What?" she asked in confusion.

He shook his head, making himself snap out of his confused thoughts and then bent down to check on any pulse on Hojo's wrist.

None.

"Damn, you really killed him." Cloud announced.

"Nah. It's okay. He deserved to die anyway." Sephiroth told them coolly.

"But what are we going to do with him? People will know that I killed _that_!" Aerith told them, suddenly panicking. Her good reputation is going to be soiled… for the first time. "Oh well. Never mind. Let them know." She said optimistically, thinking of the good that it will bring to her reputation. Maybe people will start to take her seriously.

"No. I'm not going to let that happen!" Cloud stood up straight as he dusted himself.

"Well then what are we going to do with his body?" Aerith asked, crossing her arms.

"I don't know… And what is my brother going to say about this?" Cloud was beginning to feel uneasy about the situation.

"I have an idea. I'll chop it off with my Masamune and then put it in a garbage bag and throw it to the ocean." Sephiroth said.

"That's absurd. And the ocean is more than a thousand miles away from this place! How can we transport it there? Besides, if we cut him off into pieces, it's going to be really messy…" Cloud said.

"…and bloody…" Aerith added.

"Just like the mess he created. He simply deserves it." Sephiroth muttered, snorting.

Cloud and Aerith both looked at him in awe. "…alright, enough playtime. Stop pretending to be Sephiroth." The latter told him.

"I _am_ Sephiroth, dammit!" Sephiroth told her.

"…but you're a kid!" Cloud told him.

"And… he's dead…" Aerith reasoned hesitantly.

Sephiroth bit his lower lip for a while before saying, "Oh yeah? If I'm not your older brother, then how come I know all about the time when you fell down the stairs one morning when you were 15 years old because I said Cloud's at the door with flowers in his hand so you had to rush?"

Aerith felt her heart stop for a second as she stared in bewilderment at the young boy.

"Or the time when you and I would hide from Tifa in the attic when we're playing hide and seek? You asked me to close the lid of a big hope chest after you got inside so that she wouldn't find you. I completely forgot that you were inside that hope chest until after five hours when Tifa and I realized that you were missing during dinnertime? And when we opened the hope chest, you were crying? Turns out that you had been screaming but nobody can hear you?" he told her.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Ares came in running with a panicky look on his face, but he froze in his tracks when he saw the dead man on the floor.

Aerith snapped out of her reverie and went over to Ares, "What are you doing here? Go back to your room!" she instructed sternly.

"But mom… Uncle Rufus is here…" Ares told her, but his gaze was on the dead man.

Aerith covered his eyes with the palm of her hand and turned him around to face the door. "Really? That was fast. I think he took the jet or something… just go back to your room and you didn't see anything, okay?" she asked sweetly before pushing him out of the room, closed the door and locked it. She leaned against the door with a disturbed look on her face.

"He's here already?" Cloud asked as he looked outside the window before turning back to the corpse on the floor. "And what are we going to do with that?" he asked.

Silence.

Aerith and Sephiroth just stood still, staring at it in awe.

oOoOo

"Come on… hurry with it…" Sephiroth muttered in annoyance as Cloud and Aerith continued to drag the body in the hallway leading to the emergency stairs. Sephiroth was leading the way.

"What about the security cameras?" Aerith asked.

They stopped dragging the corpse.

"Look, why don't we just leave it here and tell everyone that somebody else killed him?" Cloud asked.

"Like who?" Sephiroth asked.

"Assassination?" Aerith suggested.

"Gee… just like what he did to General Lockheart." Sephiroth muttered.

Cloud and Aerith turned to him in surprise. Sephiroth looked up at them with a serious look on his face, "Hojo killed Lockheart and made it appear like he has been assassinated." He said.

"How did you know that he's the one who killed Tifa's father?" Cloud asked.

"Tanya, Ares and I have been suspicious of this dirty old man for along time already… Tanya stole some of Hojo's files and it turns out that he documented every single activity that he has done." Sephiroth told them.

"Tanya did that?" Aerith asked in shock.

"Geez… children these days…" Cloud thought before shrugging. "Well then, let's leave his body here and if someone asks questions, let's tell them that we're innocent." He told them coolly.

"And what if the other corrupt executives find out about this and gets suspicious?" Aerith asked.

Cloud and Sephiroth fell into silence due to confusion. "Then we kill them too?" the latter asked with a pleased smile on his face.

"No, this is enough killing for now." Cloud told him sternly. "And just go back to your room before the other adults suspect." He continued.

Sephiroth shrugged. "Okay. I'll leave the dirty work to you two. Just be careful not to be too obvious." He told them, crossing his arms before leaving.

Aerith sighed heavily with a slight smile on her face as she was watching Sephiroth go to the elevators. "I'm just glad he's back." She said softly.

"Yeah… though it's still unbelievable." Cloud told her before grabbing her hand and leading her back to his office. Once they got inside, they realized that the bloody poker was still on the floor and that they had left blood stains on the floor too…

Not to mention, the Masamune that was still on the floor…

"Oh no…" Cloud muttered.

"You keep Rufus busy somewhere, I'll clean this up." Aerith urged, pushing him towards the door again.

"What if someone enters?" Cloud asked.

"I'll lock the door." Aerith told him.

Cloud was rather hesitant to leave Aerith alone with the danger of rebellion still waiting for them and the rest of their family inside and outside the building. "…alright. I'll come back here in a jiffy." Cloud gave her a quick kiss on the lips before leaving her alone there.

Aerith swallowed hard and turned back to the mess. "Time to get to work…" she said softly with a weak smile on her face.

oOoOo

Rufus went straight to his office on the 70th floor. "Where is Cloud?" he demanded out loud.

Vincent, Heidegger, Lucrecia, Palmer and Reeve jerked. "He's on his way, sir." Heidegger pointed out.

Rufus sat down on his chair and turned to the family picture framed on his desk. He instantly pushed it down so that he could not look at it. "Curses…" he muttered to himself before turning to the door where Cloud had just entered.

"Hey, bro. How's it going?" Cloud asked, trying to sound casual.

"Where is my wife?" Rufus demanded instantly, eyeing Cloud suspiciously.

Cloud froze in his tracks. "I… don't really know. Isn't she supposed to be with you in Junon?" he asked.

"She _escaped_ with Scarlet, alright?" Rufus answered, his frown deepening as he got up from his seat. "I've checked the yacht… no one there…" he told him.

"Same thing when I went there to check." Cloud said.

"Wasn't there anyone guarding the port when it arrived?" Rufus asked.

"Well…" Cloud began, but Rufus interrupted him, "DON'T TELL ME THERE WASN'T ANY SOLDIER THERE?" he demanded in anger.

"There were Soldiers scattered around the area, Rufus, but…" Cloud began.

"Oh, don't give me that, Cloud. You were never good in mapping out security strategies anyway!" Rufus snapped at him with an arrogant look on his face.

"What?" Cloud demanded, feeling insulted.

Vincent felt like shrinking when he heard that. "Uh-oh… are they going to fight?" he thought to himself before turning to Lucrecia who had her head bowed down. She was looking very tired already like she lacked sleep.

"Look, don't go blaming me if your wife is missing, alright? As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing my duties as the Vice President here!" Cloud told Rufus in annoyance.

"Doing your duties as Vice President?" Rufus asked airily.

"Well then what do you call my job here?" Cloud asked.

"Alright, that's enough." Vincent told them as he stepped forward.

"Stay out of this, Valentine." Rufus and Cloud both said in unison.

Vincent's eyes widened upon hearing that, but he was not able to say anything else.

Rufus turned to the other executives. "And get out of my office. I want all of you to send out search troops and look for my wife and that Scarlet! For all I know Scarlet could do something bad to Tifa." He told them harshly.

They all obliged and left the office in a hurry, except for Vincent who just remained there, staring stiffly at his two friends. As soon as the others got out of the President's Office, Vincent gathered enough guts to speak out before Rufus or Cloud could say anything harsh against him or against one another. "I think you're being unreasonable in this situation, Rufus. Stop pretending to be… _angry_. I know you're not the same angst-ridden person from before." Vincent told Rufus.

Rufus and Cloud both turned to him with frowns on their faces.

"And stop blaming Cloud. He and Aerith have done their best here in Midgar while you were away." Vincent continued weakly, but still keeping his gaze on Rufus. "I know it's been hard for you: your parents were killed and we still don't know what caused it, Tifa had a miscarriage with your first child… and then your second child died… and now she's missing. But you have to…" he continued, but he trailed off when he realized that Rufus was beginning to lose it.

"…be strong." Cloud said, continuing for Vincent.

Rufus had this hard look on his face before he rolled his eyes and turned away. "I just want my life back…" he wanted to say out loud but he was trembling inside with too much emotions which made him too speechless to react.

Cloud and Vincent exchanged glances, but they were interrupted when they heard footsteps approaching the office. Then there was Heidegger with Reeve looking frantic as if they have seen a ghost.

"I thought you were told to leave?" Cloud demanded from them.

"But sir… it's Hojo! He's dead! In the hallway!" Reeve reasoned.

Rufus faced them again with a bewildered look in his blue eyes. "I beg your pardon?" he asked, unable to believe it.

"I think someone killed him!" Heidegger pointed out.

"Oh my… really?" Cloud asked, trying to sound surprised but innocent at the same time.

Vincent frowned. "Which hallway?" he asked as he led the way. Reeve and Heidegger followed after him.

"The Vice President's level, on the 69th floor." Heidegger replied.

Cloud stiffened, but still kept a straight face.

Rufus noticed the uneasiness in his brother's eyes.

As soon as the rest had gone off to check on the crime scene, Rufus spoke up, "I should throw in a reward to the person who finished that bastard off."

Cloud turned his gaze to him. "Wanna go see?" he asked nonchalantly, wanting to change the subject.

Rufus crossed his arms. "Alright, what happened?" he asked, unconvinced. He could easily notice the discomfort on his brother.

Cloud swallowed hard, but he knew he had to come clean. "It… was an accident… out of protecting ourselves, Rufus." He began quite nervously.

Rufus's eyes widened. "You killed him?" he demanded.

"SHH!" Cloud went to him and grabbed his shoulders. "I did not, okay? I told you it was an accident!" he told him.

"Well then who did it?" Rufus demanded, panicking for his brother's sake. He could not let the reputation of a fellow ShinRa get ruined by letting him/her confess to murder, whoever killed Hojo, that is…

"I can't tell you." Cloud decided, not wanting Aerith to be imprisoned.

"I won't let you get into trouble!" Rufus told him sternly.

"But… I told you it was not me…" Cloud told him.

"Then who?" Rufus asked stubbornly.

Before Cloud could say another word, Heidegger and some armed Soldiers arrived. "Cloud Strife, you are under arrest!" Heidegger announced.

Cloud's mouth dropped open, so did Rufus's. Cloud turned around to face Heidegger. "What?" he demanded.

The Soldiers approached him, pulling him away from Rufus and then putting handcuffs on his wrists.

"What is the meaning of this, Heidegger?" Rufus demanded.

"Your brother will have to be put to prison as one of the suspects for the killing of Hojo." Heidegger said.

"But why?" Rufus asked with a confused look in his eyes.

"Evidence point to him and his wife. Hojo was on the 69th floor where his office is located… and when we tried to enter his office, it was locked. We had to force it open and we saw his wife standing over this pool of blood with the Masamune and a bloody fireplace poker on the floor." Heidegger said.

Cloud and Rufus were speechless… especially the latter. He examined Cloud. "Could it be that he's the one murdering everyone? … so that he could become President?" he was thinking to himself with a doubtful stare.

But Cloud was able to read his thoughts by the way he was staring at him. "Oh no… please don't think that I…" he began, but Rufus turned away, clenching his fists. "Take him and Aerith away!" he commanded.

Cloud's eyes widened. "WHAT?" he demanded in rage.

The Soldiers began to drag Cloud away. "Rufus, you know that I would never do something like that! Rufus, snap out of it! Come back to your senses!" Cloud was telling him, but it was no use; his brother was not listening anymore.

oOoOo

Cloud and Aerith were imprisoned within the ShinRa building in Midgar where the Prison cells are located.

"Great… the media is going to know…" Cloud muttered to himself as he remained seated inside his cell.

Aerith was on the other cell next to him. They were separated because of the fear that they might do something bad together and escape.

Aerith looked up at the ceiling of her own prison cell. No vents, no windows around her. How can she possibly get out of there? She leaned back against the wall by the door and shivered. "Cloud," she called out.

He did not answer, although he heard her.

"I'm sorry if I got us into this mess…" she told him with a sad look on her face.

He smiled slightly. "It's okay, Aerith. We'll get out of here, I promise." He told her.

She sat down on the floor. "Did you tell Rufus?" she asked with a worried tone.

"…I didn't…" he admitted.

"Why not?" she asked.

"…I don't want anything bad happening to you," Cloud admitted with a hurtful look on his face. He was beginning to worry about his own brother too… and Ares. What will Rufus tell him?

oOoOo

The next day, Ares woke up late but just in time for lunch. His Auntie Tifa and Scarlet slept in his bedroom because it was the only place where Aerith could think of keeping them safe.

"I'll bring in some food for you once I come back, Auntie Tifa and Miss Scarlet." Ares presented.

Tifa nodded, not really caring whether she is hungry or not. She just remained seated on the floor while Scarlet was seated by the study desk.

"Thank you, Ares," Scarlet said softly.

With that, the little boy left the room.

"I wonder what happened last night. Aerith didn't come back here." Tifa told Scarlet.

"This is the strange thing about this building. Whenever there's something going on in the higher floors, you wouldn't be able to know or hear anything." Scarlet said, sighing heavily.

Tifa was just quiet. Scarlet looked at her, "And I wonder how you can take living here." She pointed out.

Tifa bowed down her head. "I don't know either… considering that this is the same building where my father died… and where Sephiroth died…" she answered with a trembling tone.

When they heard heavy footsteps approaching from outside, Tifa instantly crawled under the bed while Scarlet rushed inside the closet.

The door opened and there was the little boy Sephiroth with a stern look on his face as he gazed around the room. "Ares?" he called out.

No answer.

He was about to step out of the room but Vincent, his father, stepped inside. "There you are, Sephiroth. What are you doing here?" Vincent asked.

"What are _you_ doing here, dad?" Sephiroth answered.

Vincent blinked. "Well… I'm looking for Ares. You see, something… happened to his parents last night…" he said.

Upon hearing that, Tifa's eyes widened. "What? What happened to them? Oh no… I hope nothing really bad happened to them…" she was thinking in panic.

Sephiroth was also surprised. "Really? What happened?" he asked in awe as he looked up at his father.

Vincent sighed heavily. "Apparently Hojo died last night… someone killed him and his body was found in the hallway where Cloud's office is located. All evidences point to… Cloud and Aerith. When Heidegger and the Soldiers were investigating, they tried to enter the office, but it was locked. They forced it open and then they saw Aerith inside. There was blood on the floor; the Masamune was there and a bloody fireplace poker was found on the floor too just within her reach." He explained.

Sephiroth felt the blood drain from his face. "…So… where are they now?" he asked innocently.

"Rufus had them imprisoned in the Prison Cells here in the building." Vincent replied.

Sephiroth's mouth dropped open, "WHAT? He can't do that!" he protested.

Vincent raised his eyebrows at his son.

Sephiroth swallowed hard and looked away. "Because… Hojo deserves to die anyway!" he told his father stiffly.

"Sephiroth, you're not supposed to judge people whether they should die or not even if they have done something bad before." Vincent pointed out with a tone that seemed to falter, although deep inside, he could not help but agree with his own son.

"Aw, don't give me that bull, dad! I know how much you hate Hojo! And besides, he's the bad guy here! He tried to kill Tifa… and he killed Tanya too! And he killed Tifa's father and… Rufus's parents! He's better off dead, dad!" Sephiroth protested.

"Sephiroth, what are you saying?" Vincent asked in surprise.

"…I'm saying that Hojo is a bad man and he deserved to die and so Rufus should release Cloud and Aerith!" Sephiroth pointed out with a commanding tone which made Vincent shiver. For a moment he thought that his own son sounded like his old friend whom he was named after.

"Well… Sephiroth… I don't think Rufus can make the decision now. He thinks that Cloud and Aerith plotted _everything_." Vincent began.

Tifa covered her own mouth to stop herself from reacting even though she was already having a hard time breathing under the bed.

Sephiroth placed his hands on his hips, "What do you mean he thinks Cloud and Aerith plotted everything?" he demanded.

"He thinks that Cloud wants the Presidency for himself that's why he's doing everything he can to have it… including the killing of their parents… and any possible heir or heiress Rufus could have." Vincent pointed out.

Sephiroth was exasperated. He did not say anything more; he just ran out of the room.

"Sephiroth, wait!" Vincent went after him and closed the door.

Scarlet slowly opened the closet door with a mortified look on her face. "…Mrs. ShinRa," she began softly.

Tifa slowly crawled from under the bed and slowly got up, not even bothering to dust herself. "I… think… I'm… not feeling well, Scarlet…" she said with a trembling tone before she finally collapsed.

"KYAH!" Scarlet reacted in shock, but she covered her mouth again. "Shit!" she muttered before rushing to Tifa's aid.

oOoOo

Ares was surprised when he saw that his Uncle Rufus was there in the dining room and eating lunch. "Oh… hello, Uncle Rufus." He greeted pleasantly.

Rufus stared curiously at the boy. "Ares. You're up late?" he asked with a cold tone.

"Eh… yeah. Couldn't sleep last night. Where's my mommy and daddy?" Ares asked casually.

Rufus put down his spoon and fork and waited for his nephew to sit down. As soon as Ares had seated himself, Rufus coldly revealed, "I put them to prison."

Ares's eyes widened and his face turned pale. "…What?" he asked in almost a squeak.

Rufus did not answer. He continued to eat.

Ares felt his heart racing fast. He wanted to cry but he knew he had to be strong for the sake of his parents. "But… why?" he asked in a trembling tone.

"For all I know your parents are the ones doing all the killings so that your father can become President." Rufus answered.

Ares bowed down his head as he took a deep shuddering breath.

The Turks, who were also in the dining room guarding the president, felt sorry for the boy.

"Rufus," Reno began.

Rufus turned to Reno.

"I… don't think it's fair for the child…" Reno began, having enough guts to speak up to Rufus. After all, they're friends, right?

But he was wrong this time. Rufus was in a bad mood, and when he is in a bad mood, he has _no friends_.

"Get out of here!" Rufus commanded in annoyance.

The Turks instantly exited the room, leaving Ares with his Uncle Rufus, although they could tell that the boy was suddenly afraid.

"Uncle Rufus… you know my mommy and daddy would never do something like that!" the boy reasoned with a trembling voice.

"Until further investigation occurs, they'll remain in prison and you'll remain under my care." Rufus told him.

Ares sniffed.

Rufus glared at him, "What, are you going to cry?" he demanded.

Ares just frowned. "No. I'm just disappointed…" he said rather angrily.

"And why are you disappointed?" Rufus asked airily.

"Because I've always thought that you're the best Uncle a boy like me could ever have… and that I've always looked up to you as a good leader because… you're simply perfect, Uncle Rufus… but… I never knew that you could be _this weak_." Ares got up from his seat and walked away, but before he could get out of the dining room, he turned back to his Uncle and said, "And I thought you were nice despite that attitude of yours! I wonder what Cousin Tanya has to say to me about this now!" and he turned away and left.

Rufus felt his heart shatter when he heard that. The spoon and fork slipped away from his grasp as he stared at the doorway where Ares exited.

But Rufus never showed any emotion. He just remained seated there for several moments before he decided to just leave and go back to his office.

oOoOo

To be continued…


	15. The ShinRas are Alright

Chapter 15: Except For a Few Bruises, Cuts and Scars, the ShinRas are Alright

Author's note: This is really delayed. But this is the last chapter so…

Anyway, sorry to keep you waiting and hanging for over a year.

oOoOo

Reno watched as Ares run past him, Tseng, Rude and Elena going to the elevators.

"Poor Prez…" Elena said soflty, eyeing the door of the dining room.

"You're lucky he didn't hear that. If he finds out that he's being pitied, he'll throw a fit." Tseng told her.

"What about Ares? The poor kid's feeling bad!" Elena asked, turning to Reno.

They watched in silence as Ares crossed his arms and continued to cry as he waited for the elevator.

"He'll be alright… I think…" Reno answered rather weakly.

Elena frowned and clenched her fists. "You know, I think the only person who can make the Prez snap out of his nastiness is the First Lady herself!" she decided.

"The problem is, she's missing." Reno muttered.

They waited until Ares entered the elevator before any of them spoke up again. "They're still searching for her, right?" Reno asked.

"Yes." Tseng replied.

"Gee… I feel so sorry for Ares. This is going to be traumatic for him… I think we should go see if he's okay." Elena said softly.

"Alright, let's go." Tseng agreed before leading the way to the elevators again. They pressed the "up" button but they noticed that the elevator was going down.

"Hey, I thought Ares's room is upstairs? Where is he going this time?" Reno asked suspiciously.

They suddenly felt a rush of panic. "Come on, go, go, go!" Tseng pushed them towards the emergency stairs and they all rushed downstairs going to the lobby.

Upon arriving there, they realized that the elevator was going up again. "Shit… you think he went upstairs again?" Reno asked.

Elena grabbed the wrist of a random employee passing by and asked, "You've seen the little Strife kid around here?" she asked.

The employee shook his head. "No." he said with a surprised look on his face. Elena let go of him and she and Reno rushed to the receptionist while Tseng and Rude went to the front entrance where tight security is present.

"You've seen Ares Strife?" Reno asked the receptionist.

"No." the receptionist replied.

"Was he in the elevator and got off here in the lobby?" Elena asked.

"No. It was Reeve who got out of the elevator just moments ago." The receptionist replied.

Meanwhile, Tseng was asking the guard, "Did Ares pass through here?"

The guard frowned at him, "No. Why?" he asked.

Tseng and Rude exchanged glances before thanking the guard and went back to Reno and Elena. "No sign of him here in the lobby." Reno told them.

"But where is he?" Elena asked.

"I don't know but I think we must start looking for him now…" Tseng decided. "Rude, you come with me outside. We'll search for him there. Elena, Reno, you search all floors." He commanded.

"Yessir!" Reno and Elena saluted before going back to the elevators.

Tseng got his mobile phone and began to contact Vincent Valentine, their boss.

oOoOo

Ares quickly got inside his bedroom. He knew that the Turks would be following him out of curiosity so he got off at second floor, took the other elevator and went upstairs again.

"Auntie Tifa!" he called out. He froze in his tracks when he realized that Tifa was lying on his bed and Scarlet was pacing back and forth across the room.

"What happened to her?" Ares demanded as he shut the door and locked it.

"Your parents are in prison and she fainted." Scarlet pointed out with an annoyed look on her face.

"I know that my parents are in prison… but… why did she faint?" he asked.

"I don't know." Scarlet said, shrugging in the process.

Ares went to Tifa and began to shake her gently, "Auntie Tifa, wake up! I'm gonna need your help!" he told her.

Tifa slowly opened her eyes and looked at Ares with a tired look on her face. "…you're back…" she said softly.

"Auntie Tifa, my mom and dad got imprisoned by Uncle Rufus!" Ares exclaimed in panic.

Tifa shuddered as she slowly sat up on the bed with a dazed look on her face. "I know…" she said blankly.

"Auntie Tifa, what shall we do?" Ares asked; he was already in the verge of tears.

Tifa just stared blankly at the child.

Ares shook her gently. "Are you even listening?" he wailed.

Scarlet held his shoulder and moved him gently away from the still-stunned Tifa. "She's still shocked by the events, I hope you'll understand." She said.

"No, not at all!" he wailed angrily, pushing her away from him. He stomped his feet angrily on the floor. "Why must I understand? I do not understand any of this at all! Why can't we be more like the other families out there? Why can't we all be just normal without all the money? I'll bet we'd be happier that way!" he cried in frustration.

Scarlet fell silent, not knowing how to respond to the crying boy.

Tifa slowly turned her gaze to Ares. She eyed him carefully and smiled stiffly. "Because we are not _them_." She answered before gathering enough strength to stand up. "We are ShinRas. And we will always be different from those other people no matter what we do, so we have to just live with the fact that life is like this for us." She continued.

Scarlet was surprised by what she heard from her. "…Tifa," she began.

Tifa bowed down her head and smiled bitterly while keeping her gaze on the floor. "I should have known the moment I decided to belong to this family, that I have to take bigger risks. This family is like royalty, and right now, we're breaking apart. I've been warned by my past teachers that life doesn't always have fairytale endings, and I wish I believed them when I married Rufus. And now that this tale is beginning to go bad, well I don't want that to happen." She looked at Scarlet. "You must've known it too that being involved with this family means dealing with a lot of sad things in life like scandals and rumors about you, me and everyone else. What more if you really belong to this family? I should have known that from the start even before I married Rufus so that I could have prepared myself for the worst. You know what the sad thing is? I didn't know how to face the consequences…" she looked at Ares. "…until now." She continued.

The little boy sniffed and looked sadly at her.

She smiled gently at the boy and offered an embrace. The boy instantly ran to her and hugged her tightly.

She embraced Ares. "I know you're scared. I was scared too. But now we have to be strong… especially now that your mom and dad are in prison. But don't worry, I'll get them out of there." She said reassuringly.

Scarlet took a deep breath and smiled at the two of them. "Hojo is dead. This can make things easier for us now." She told Tifa.

Tifa was about to answer "I hope so." But she froze when she heard the door open.

Scarlet's eyes widened as she stared at the little silver-haired boy staring at her curiously.

Sephiroth turned his attention to Tifa. "Tifa?" he asked.

Tifa let go of Ares and turned to the little silver-haired boy and stared wide-eyed at him.

Sephiroth shut the door and locked it. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

Silence.

Ares wiped his tears away and faced Sephiroth with a stern look on his face. "I'm hiding them." He answered.

"Well they don't look hidden. I think you should hide them now because the Turks are coming here with my dad and Rufus!" Sephiroth warned.

Tifa's eyes widened. "Rufus?" she asked.

"Yeah. He's really angry now." Sephiroth answered.

Scarlet panicked. "Kyah! Oh no, Tifa, we have to hide now!" she wailed.

But Tifa just stood still as her facial expression turned serious. She then went to the door and pushed Sephiroth aside away from it. "Stand back, this could get dirty." She warned the silver-haired boy as she opened the door and stepped outside. She turned to the hallway and eyed Rufus, Vincent and the Turks approaching.

They stopped in their tracks upon seeing her.

"Mrs. ShinRa!" Elena exclaimed.

Tifa just smiled stiffly at them, and then turned to Rufus, "Hello, darling, what have you been up to?" she asked with a singsong voice.

Rufus breathed in for a moment, surprised about her being there in front of him all of a sudden. "Tifa." Was all he could say as a greeting.

She stepped forward.

"Mrs. ShinrRa, where is Scarlet?" Tseng asked.

"She's perfectly harmless. It's Hojo who you should all blame. He's the one who killed my father, my daughter and my in-laws and he has been plotting further commotion within this family so that he could claim ShinRa all to himself." She explained immediately.

"And how do you know that?" Rufus asked haughtily.

"Isn't it obvious? Scarlet is a witness. I'm sure if you ask Heidegger and the other executives about it, they'll tell you the same thing: that Hojo seems to be planning something to destroy our family." She told him.

"Why should you believe a murderer like Scarlet? And since when did you start to form an alliance with someone who hates you so much?" he argued.

"Why are you questioning me like that? Are you afraid to commit a mistake and you want everything to be perfect so you think that even your judgment on other people are right? All you do is to point fingers here, Rufus, and I'm so disappointed that it's what I've been doing too in all these years that I've been married to you! I thought that, since you're so used to perfection, I should be perfect for you too… and the pressure is driving me nuts! And now that you know that someone tried to ruin our family, I just want you to look at the bigger picture and analyze it without pointing fingers at anyone!" she pointed out in exasperation.

Rufus was quiet for a moment, eyeing her carefully. "You've changed, Tifa." He said softly. She used to seemingly agree to everything he wanted and followed everything he did, trying to cope with the pressures the life of being a Shinra has to offer by living the way he does.

She smiled sadly. "I did, Rufus. Now I want you to do the same if you want us to survive and to finally cope with the issues around our family." She said gently as she came closer to him.

Ares and Sephiroth took a peek from the room and observed the confrontation between the husband and the wife.

Rufus just eyed her helplessly. "But why did you run away just like that?" he asked.

She looked at the Turks, then at Vincent. "I'd like to speak with Rufus alone. And please let Cloud and Aerith out of prison." She instructed gently but firmly.

Vincent smiled slightly at her. "Welcome back, Mrs. ShinRa." He said before turning away. "Let's go," he urged the Turks to follow after him.

Rufus walked past Tifa. "To my office." He told her.

She blinked and swallowed hard. She began to walk after him and Sephiroth followed.

She wondered why he was even following her. "Sephiroth, I think you should go play somewhere else." She said.

"Is that how you treat your cousin, Tifa?" Sephiroth asked.

Silence.

Even Rufus stopped in his tracks to look at him strangely. "Sephiroth, go play somewhere else. Don't confuse Tifa." He said sternly.

Sephiroth just pouted and grinned at him. "Fine." He said before turning away.

Tifa looked at Rufus in surprise. He just turned away and continued to walk. She clenched her jaw and followed after him again.

"Don't mind him. He's a strange boy. He thinks he's the old Sephiroth." Rufus told her reassuringly.

But she still had a creepy feeling around her regarding the little silver-haired boy.

When they finally arrived in his office on the 70th floor, Rufus turned to face her as soon as he reached his desk. Tifa felt as if he was trying to intimidate her by promoting that kind of atmosphere wherein he is the superior and she is just someone lower than him. But she was not intimidated.

"Why don't you speak to me someplace else? Like in our bedroom?" she asked.

He just looked at her with a serious look on his face. "This is a better venue for now." He said before taking a seat and lowering his gaze on the table.

She was quiet for a moment before finally gaining the guts to speak up again, "Did you even understand everything I told you moments ago?"

He looked up at her again with a solemn look on his face. He smiled bitterly. "I'm just sick of this." He answered.

She felt her heart sinking upon seeing him looking so vulnerable. She knew he hated looking and feeling like that, but at that moment, he was exposing his inner self to her and she thought it to be a very rare and precious moment. She immediately ran to him and stooped down to embrace him as he remained seated on his chair. She began to cry…

…and so did he.

"Don't think that I never believed you when you said that someone is going to ruin us. I am completely aware of my mistakes, and all I'm asking is your forgiveness for those times when I wasn't there by your side and for those times when I had taken you for granted. I'm sorry, Tifa. I'm… I'm not perfect, even though I try to be. Even this life I gave you isn't as perfect as how it looks from the outside… although I did my best to make it perfect for you because all I ever wished for is your happiness… and mine." He explained with a tone that seemed to falter in every word he would utter.

She let go of him and knelt down before him, grasping his hands as she stared at him sadly with tears in her eyes.

He smiled at her as he squeezed her hands. "I never meant for you to suffer just because you married me." He said.

She chuckled lightly. "Oh don't be ridiculous. If I never felt any love towards you, I would've left you in the altar in the first place!" she said.

He got up and took her with him. They stood still, looking at each other in silence—the kind of silence that seemed to say everything they've ever wanted to say to each other.

"ShinRa is power. We have the power. Let's use it for ourselves as well, not just for making people believe that we're perfect."

They both turned to Cloud who said those words. They never realized that he had been standing by the doorway of the office and watching them. Aerith was standing beside him and smiling at Rufus and Tifa.

Rufus frowned slightly as he let go of Tifa and wiped his own tears away. "Oh damn. Don't you know how to knock or something?" he asked in annoyance.

Cloud approached his brother and gave him a reassuring hug. "It's just me, Rufus. You don't have to hide." He said with a serious tone but reassuring tone.

Rufus just took a deep breath and nodded stiffly. "Thank you for being here, Cloud." He said.

Cloud faced him and smiled at him while patting his shoulders. "I'm sure you didn't mean to send me and Aerith to prison. I understand you're confused." He said.

Aerith went to them and held Rufus's hand. "We'll help each other, Rufus. Don't worry." She said before turning to Tifa. "Everything will be alright now." She said.

Rufus eyed Aerith curiously. "Admit it, Aerith, you were the one who killed Hojo, huh?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

Aerith stiffened for a moment but Rufus laughed at her. "I won't punish you for it. In fact I might secretly give you a reward for killing a wanted criminal whom everybody else thought of as nice." He told her reassuringly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Rufus. I'm sure nobody ever thought of that bastard as nice." Sephiroth told them as he entered the scene.

"Oh no. You again. Didn't I tell you to play somewhere else?" Rufus asked in annoyance.

Sephiroth just smiled at him.

Cloud and Aerith eyed Rufus with cautious stares. "Rufus, we have something to tell you about Sephiroth…" the former began.

oOoOo

That evening, there was an extravagant dinner-celebration at the ShinRa HQ. All of Rufus, Tifa, Aerith and Cloud's close friends were invited to the dinner.

In the middle of dinner, Rufus ShinRa got up from his seat and raised his wine goblet. "This wine has been specially chosen by my wife from the wine cellar downstairs. It's quite old, but it tastes better. This is the same wine my parents drank during their wedding reception, and it's also the wine I shared with my beloved Tifa on our own wedding reception." He said proudly.

Tifa smiled lovingly at him.

Rufus went on, "Just like this wine, this dinner party we're having right now is very special because it is an occasion to mark a new beginning for all of us here in ShinRa. This is the time to forget the past troubles and to learn from past mistakes. Furthermore, this is a mark for a new journey to move on to much better days than what we ShinRas have had before." He turned to Tifa and winked at her as he smiled slyly. "And maybe it's time to make another ShinRa heir." He added.

Tifa widened her eyes at him as she blushed.

The other guests laughed lightheartedly at what he said.

He just smiled. "To all of us here sharing this moment." He raised his glass further.

"For ShinRa." Cloud said as he raised his glass with his brother.

"Cheers!" everyone chorused as they raised their own glasses and drank together with Rufus and Cloud.

And so the ShinRas lived better and peaceful lives. Sure, there are still some troubles arriving every now and then, but Rufus has matured into a better adult and has learned to deal with the realities of life. Tifa has always been by his side, and they worked together with Cloud and Aerith assisting them to make Midgar and the Planet better not only for their own liking but for the citizens' sake as well.

Some 9 months after getting back completely together with Rufus, Tifa gave birth to another child, this time, a boy.

Unlike the way Rufus treated his daughter, this time, with his new son, he and Tifa taught him that nothing is perfect in this world, and being a ShinRa should not be so hard, because being a member of the family should not mean that he should be perfect. The boy grew up happy and satisfied with his life and his family, not being pressured or affected by the public's perception on what their family is supposed to be: Perfect.

oOoOo

-the end… finally.-


End file.
